Many species of bacteria can use naturally occurring organophosphonates as a source of metabolic phosphate by cleaving the carbon-phosphorus bond with a multi-enzyme pathway collectively called carbon-phosphorus lyase (CP-lyase). Very little is known about the fate of organophosphonates entering this pathway. In order to detect metabolic intermediates we have synthesized a fluorescently labelled organophosphonate and show that this is a viable substrate for the CP-lyase pathway in Escherichia coli and that the expected product of CP-bond cleavage is formed. The in vivo competence of one potential metabolic intermediate, 1-ethylphosphonate-a-d-ribofuranose, is also demonstrated.