page_title: Sodium fluoroacetate
section_title: Occurrence
hierarchical_section_title: Sodium fluoroacetate / Occurrence
caption_attribution_description: Afrikaans: Gifblaar, 'n suider-Afrikaanse plant wat fluoroasetaat produseer om dit van beweiding te beskerm English: a poison leaf (ratbane, Dichapetalum cymosum, gifblaar). The plant is African and has naturally made fluorocetate, a poison, to ward off animals.
context_page_description: Sodium fluoroacetate is the organofluorine chemical compound with the formula FCH₂CO₂Na. This colourless salt has a taste similar to that of sodium chloride and is used as a metabolic poison. Sodium fluoroacetate does not occur naturally, and can only be produced synthetically. A similar compound, potassium fluoroacetate, occurs naturally as an anti-herbivore metabolite in various plants, and can also be produced synthetically. Both are derivatives of fluoroacetic acid, a carboxylic acid. The more common fluorinated acetic acid and its derivatives are far less toxic.
context_section_description: The related compound potassium fluoroacetate occurs naturally in at least 40 plant species in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, and Africa. It was first identified in Dichapetalum cymosum, commonly known as gifblaar (Afrikaans) or poison leaf, by Marais in 1944. As early as 1904, colonists in Sierra Leone used extracts of Chailletia toxicaria, which also contains fluoroacetic acid or its salts, to poison rats. Several native Australian plant genera contain the toxin, including Gastrolobium, Gompholobium, Oxylobium, Nemcia, and Acacia. New Zealand's native Puha contains 1080 in very low concentrations.
caption: Dichapetalum cymosum
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