Nitrile compounds microbial degradation

In addition to hydrolysis, nerve agents may be transformed in soil by microbial degradation via 0-dealkylation and C-dealkylation with resulting toxic products (Morrill et al. 1985). GA can also be biodegraded via nitrile hydrolysis, resulting in a nontoxic compound N-dealkylation results in a compound that is... 

Microbial degradation of nitrile compounds was performed by different microorganisms, capable of growing on various aliphatic and aromatic nitriles [107-109], They are degraded through two pathways (Figure 7) one is the direct hydrolysis of nitriles to carboxylic acid and ammonia, catalyzed by nitrilases. Nitrilases, that utilize benzonitrile and related aromatic nitriles as substrates, have been purified from Pseudomonas sp. [110.111], Nocardia sp. strains NCIB 11215 [112] and NCIB 11216... 

Y. Asano, T. Yasuda, Y. Tani, H. Yamada, Microbial degradation of nitrile compounds. Part VII. A new enzymic method of acrylamide production, Agric. Biol. Chem. 46 (1982) 1183-1189. 

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