Anaerobic reactions

Pyruvate formate-lyase reaction. Anaerobic cleavage of pyruvate to acetyl-CoA and formate (Eq. 15-37) is essential to the energy economy of many cells, including those of E. coli. No external oxidant is needed, and the reaction does not require lipoic acid. 

All the propionibacteria synthesize vitamin Bn, which has diverse functions in fermentation, protein and DNA synthesis, in regulation of DNA-synthesis and some other reactions. Anaerobic strains synthesize greater amounts of vitamin Bn than aerobic strains when grown under identical anaerobic conditions. This observation shows that the supersynthesis of vitamin Bn by anaerobic strains is genetically determined. In anaerobic forms (as shown experimentally) metabolism is tuned to the high level of... 

There are two main types of biological reaction, aerobic and anaerobic ... 

One advantage of anaerobic reactions is that the methane produced can be a useful source of energy. This can be fed to steam boilers or burnt in a heat engine to produce power. 

This reaction can also be carried out in the absence of air or oxygen, . ., anaerobically. 

Sample Preservation Without preservation, many solid samples are subject to changes in chemical composition due to the loss of volatile material, biodegradation, and chemical reactivity (particularly redox reactions). Samples stored at reduced temperatures are less prone to biodegradation and the loss of volatile material, but fracturing and phase separations may present problems. The loss of volatile material is minimized by ensuring that the sample completely fills its container without leaving a headspace where gases can collect. Samples collected from materials that have not been exposed to O2 are particularly susceptible to oxidation reactions. For example, the contact of air with anaerobic sediments must be prevented. 

Reaction of free-base porphyrin compounds with iton(II) salts in an appropriate solvent results in loss of the two N—H protons and insertion of iron into the tetradentate porphyrin dianion ligand. Five-coordinate iton(III) porphyrin complexes (hemins), which usually have the anion of the iton(II) salt for the fifth or axial ligand, ate isolated if the reaction is carried out in the presence of air. Iron(II) porphyrin complexes (hemes) can be isolated if the reaction and workup is conducted under rigorously anaerobic conditions. Typically, however, iton(II) complexes are obtained from iton(III) porphyrin complexes by reduction with dithionite, thiolate, borohydtide, chromous ion, or other reducing agents. 

Decomposition and Decarboxylation. Maleic anhydride undergoes anaerobic thermal decomposition in the gas phase in a homogeneous unimolecular reaction to give carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and acetylene [74-86-2] in equimolar amounts. The endothermic... 

Novel aromatic carboxylation reactions have been observed in the anaerobic transformation of phenols to ben2oates (82). A mixed anaerobic microbial consortium apparentiy transforms phenol (33) through an intermediate to ben2oic acid (34) via dehydroxylation. This reaction has not yet been widely exploited for its obvious synthetic value. 

Reduction of Nitro Substituents. These reactions are very common in anaerobic environments and result in amine-substituted pesticides anaerobic bacteria capable of reducing nitrate to ammonia appear to be primarily responsible. All nitro-substituted pesticides appear to be susceptible to this transformation, eg, methyl parathion (7) (eq. 9), triduralin, and pendimethalin. 

Reductive reactions typically occur in anaerobic environments where there is an abundant supply of electron donors. Electron donors are typically of microbial origin, eg, porphyrins or cysteine, which sometimes leads to confusion regarding the nature, ie, chemical vs enzymatic, of the reductive reaction. By definition, all reductive reactions which are not enzymatically catalyzed are chemical. The most significant chemical reductive reaction is reductive dechlorination. 

The anaerobic reaction of sulfur dioxide with aqueous ammonia produces a solution of ammonium sulfite [10192-30-0]. This reaction proceeds efficientiy, even with a gas stream containing as Httie as 1 wt % sulfur dioxide. The sulfur dioxide can be regenerated at a high concentration by acidulation or by stream stripping of the ammonium sulfite solution, or the sulfite can be made to precipitate and the ammonia recovered by addition of lime (243). The process can also be modified to produce ammonium sulfate for use as fertili2er (244) (see Fertilizers). In a variant of this process, the use of electron-beam radiation cataly2es the oxidation of sulfur dioxide in the presence of ammonia to form ammonium sulfate (245). 

Anaerobic treatment is usually employed for high strength wastewaters. In anaerobic treatment, complex organics are broken down through a sequence of reactions to end products of methane gas, CH, and carbon dioxide, CO2 ... 

The manner in which many of these bacteria cany on their chemical processes is qmte comphcated and in some cases not fuUy understood. The role of sulfate-reducing bacteria (anaerobic) in promoting corrosion has been extensively investigated. The sulfates in shghtly acid to alkaline (pH 6 to 9) soils are reduced by these bacteria to form calcium sulfide and hydrogen sulfide. When these compounds come in contact with underground iron pipes, conversion of the iron to iron sulfide occurs. As these bacieria thrive under these conditions, they will continue to promote this reaction until failure of the pipe occurs. 

A relatively high degree of corrosion arises from microbial reduction of sulfates in anaerobic soils [20]. Here an anodic partial reaction is stimulated and the formation of electrically conductive iron sulfide deposits also favors the cathodic partial reaction. 

Typical precautions with trichloroethylene are summarized in Table 5.52. An important factor is that the vapours are much heavier than air they will therefore spread and may accumulate at low levels, particularly in undisturbed areas. Because of its volatility, releases to the environment usually reach the atmosphere. Here it reacts with hydroxyl or other radicals (estimated half-life for reaction with hydroxyl radicals is less than a week) and is not therefore expected to diffuse to the stratosphere to any significant extent. There is some evidence for both aerobic and anaerobic biodegradation of trichloroethylene. 

The second subgroup are anaerobes, which oxidize organics in the absence of dissolved oxygen. This is accomplished by using the oxygen which is found in other compounds (such as nitrate and sulfate). Anaerobic behavior can be described by the following reactions ... 

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