Preparation and Properties of an Aluminum Citrate-Endotoxin Complex from Salmonella enteritidis.

Abstract
Treatment of conventional aqueous ether extracted endotoxins from Salmonella enteritidis with aqueous phenol, followed by high speed centrifugation, yielded material having high biological potency with a nitrogen content of 0.4–0.5% and a fatty acid content of 3–4%. Upon reacting this purified endotoxin with lithium aluminum hydride and citric acid solution, an aluminum citrate-endotoxin complex was recovered which had the desirable features of high biological potency and a rapid rate of solution in water. Non-phenolized endotoxins extracted from S. enteritidis with aqueous ether or trichloroacetic acid also formed aluminum citrate complexes under the same conditions. These were biologically potent but somewhat more difficult to dissolve. After prolonged treatment with lithium aluminum hydride, the aluminum citrate complexes still contained 1–2% esterified fatty acids. Lipid fractions isolated from acid hydrolysates of the complexes were biologically inactive.