Isolation from soil

Batcho indole synthesis is a useful tool for synthesis of naniral products. As oudined in Scheme 10.6, the Batcho indole synthesis is used for total synthesis of the slime mold alkaloid arcyriacyanin. Such indolocarbazole alkaloids represent a growing number of naniral products isolated from soil organism, slime molds, and marine sources. They are important as andnimor compounds and protein kinase C and topoisomerase inhibitors. 

Amino Acids. Early observations on the liberation of amino acids by plant roots were reviewed by Loehwing (94), Rademacher (121), and Borner (12). Free amino acids have been isolated from soil fractions (119), and the excretion of a variety of ninhydrin-positive compounds by plant roots has been demonstrated under controlled conditions by Katznelson et al. (18), Rovira (121), and Pearson and Parkinson (115). 

The N -Ditroso derivatives of the dinitroaniline herbicides bu-tralinSa and pendimethalin were quite stable in aerobic soils, persisting over several months. An aerobic actinotnycete of the Streptonyces genus was isolated from soil that metabolized N -ni-trosopendimethalin in laboratory culture.e... 

Middelhoven WJ, F Spaaij (1997) Rhodotorula cresolica sp. nov., a cresol-assrmilating yeast species isolated from soil. Int J Syst Bacterial 47 324-327. 

Suzuki T (1978) Enzymatic methylation of pentachlorophenol and its related compounds by cell-free extracts of Mycobacterium sp isolated from soil. J Pesticide Sci 3 441-443. 

Aitken MD, WT Stringfellow, RD Nagel, C Kazuga, S-H Chen (1998) Characteristics of phenanthrene-degrading bacteria isolated from soils contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Can J Microbiol 44 143-152. 

Suzuki T (1983) Methylation and hydroxylation of pentachlorophenol hy Mycobacterium sp. isolated from soil. J Pesticide Sci 8 419-428. 

Table 1 Range of Di.stribution of Oxygen-Containing Functional Groups in Humic and Fulvic Acids Isolated from Soils of Widely Different Climatic Zones (in mEq/lOO g)...

M. S. Roberts, L. K. Nakamura, and F. M. Cohan, Bacillus vallismortis sp nov, a close relative of Bacillus subtilis, isolated from soil in Death Valley, California, hit. J. Sys. Bacteriol. 46 470 (1996). 

Rationale. Microorganisms were isolated from soil and screened for toxin production according to the scheme in Figure 1. Some of the organisms causing strong inhibition on solid medium were tested for toxin production in liquid medium. Liquid culture will be required to obtain large amounts of material for commercial production of herbicides, however, the ability to produce toxins on solid medium does not necessarily imply toxin production in broth (34). Cyclo-heximide, a phytotoxic but relatively nonspecific antibiotic with little value as a herbicide, is produced by many actinomycetes. Liquid cultures were tested for cycloheximide to determine whether it caused the observed toxicity. 

Mid-IR spectroscopy, alongside gravimetric and molecular weight determinations, has also been used to analyse the biodegradation by a thermophilic bacterium (isolated from soil) of an LDPE film [44], The mid-IR studies were undertaken using the ATR sampling technique on control samples, samples that had been UV irradiated, and samples that had been UV irradiated then incubated with bacteria. The study showed that the particular bacterial strain was capable of utilising standard and photo-oxidised polyethylene as the sole carbon source. 

An enantioselective nitrilase from Pseudomonas putida isolated from soil cultured with 2 mM phenylacetonitrile was purified and characterized. This enzyme is comprised of 9-10 identical subunits each of 43 kDa. It exhibits a pH optimum at 7.0 and a temperature optimum at 40 °C (Ty2 = 160 min) and requires a reducing environment for activity. This nitrilase was shown to have an unusually high tolerance for acetone as co-solvent, with >50% activity retained in the presence of 30% acetone. The kinetic profile of this nitrilase reveals KM= 13.4mM, cat/ M = 0-9s 1mM 1 for mandelonitrile, ZfM = 3.6mM, kclJKM 5.2 s him-1 for phenylacetonitrile, and KM = 5.3 mM, kC lt/KM = 2.5 s 1 him 1 for indole 3-acetonitrile. Preliminary analysis of this enzyme with 5 mM mandelonitrile revealed formation of (/t)-mandelic acid with 99.9% ee [59]. 

Evidence is accumulating which shows that materials isolated from the marine environment are quite unlike those isolated from soils, at least in 13C/12C ratios and probably in structure. 

Weizmann A process for producing acetone and //-butanol by the fermentation of carbohydrates by bacteria isolated from soil or cereals. Later work has shown that effective bacteria are Clostridium acetobutylicum and Bacillus granulobacter pectinorum. Used in Britain in World War I for the manufacture of acetone, needed for the production of cordite. Subsequently operated by Commercial Solvents Corporation in Terre Haute, IN, and in two plants in Canada. Later abandoned in favor of synthetic processes. Invented by C. Weizmann in the University of Manchester in 1915, based on earlier work at the Pastern Institute by A. Fembach and E. H. Strange (hence the alternative name Fembach-Strange-Weizmann). The money that Weizmann obtained from royalties on this process was used in founding the State of Israel, of which he was the first president. 

Many researchers have attempted to unravel the mystery of the structure of humus. One approach has been to isolate fractions by extracting humus using various extraction procedures. These procedures result in the isolation of three or more fractions humic acid, fulvic acid, and humin. Humic material is isolated from soil by treating it with alkali. The insoluble material remaining after this treatment is called humin. The alkali solution is acidified to a pH of 1.0 and the precipitate is called humic acid, while the soluble... 

Spectroscopic methods are used almost exclusively for the identification of pure components isolated from soil. Of these, AAS and ICP in their various... 

Titration is a general word used in many different disciplines. Any time a solution of known concentration is used to find the amount of an unknown component in another solution, it can be called a titration. Although this type of analysis is very old, it still finds widespread used in chemical analysis. Titrations are used in soil analysis to measure soil acidity, soil organic matter content, and various constituents isolated from soil, particularly ammonia. 

In environmental analysis, 15N can be used to determine where nitrogen moves in the environment. Explain how 15N containing inorganic compounds might be isolated from soil and how it could be specifically determined. (Note You may wish to consult Chapters 13-15 in answering this question.)... 

Robinson et al. (79) have demonstrated that extracellular products present in the media of microorganisms originally isolated from soil can alter the elution of plutonium on gel chromatograms and the mobility of plutonium on thin layer chromatograms. 

Dibromoethane can be isolated from soil samples by liquid-liquid extraction and subsequent quantification by GC/MS (Sawhney et al. 1988). Low ppb levels of 1,2-dibromoethane in soil were reported using this technique. 

Gabor, E.M., de Vries, E.J. and Janssen, D.B., Construction, characterization, and use of smaU-insert gene banks of DNA isolated from soil and enrichment cultures for the recovery of novel amidases. Environmental Microbiol., 2004, 6, 948-958. 

Smith, L.D.S., Inhibition of Clostridium botulinum by strains of Clostridium perfringens isolated from soil, Appl. Microbiol., 30, 319-323, 1975. 

Soil The actinomycete Nocardiopsis sp. isolated from soil extensively degraded pure cis- and /ra/3s-chlordane to dichlorochlordene, oxychlordane, heptachlor, heptachlor e/ c/o-epoxide, chlordene chlorohydrin, and 3-hydroxy-traas-chlordane. Oxychlordane slowly degraded to 1-hydroxy-2-chlorochlordene (Beeman and Matsumura, 1981). In Hudson River, NY sediments, the presence of adsorbed chlordane suggests it is very persistent in this environment (Bopp et al., 1982). The reported half-life in soil is approximately 1 yr (Hartley and Kidd, 1987). 

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