Effect of methyl substitution on microbial degradation of linear styrene dimers by two soil bacteria.
The microbial degradation of 10 linear unsaturated dimers (I to IV) prepared from styrene and o-, m-, or p-methylstyrene was investigated with two soil bacteria, Alcaligenes sp. strain 559 and Pseudomonas sp. strain 419. The two strains decomposed styrene dimer I and all styrene-methylstyrene codimers II and III, but methylstyrene homodimers IV remained intact. The degradation rates of codimers II and III of o- and m-methylstyrenes were found to depend on both their structure and the strain used; i.e., Alcaligenes sp. strain 559 decomposed III faster than II, whereas the reverse order (II > III) was obtained with Pseudomonas sp. strain 419. In biodegradation by the former strain, the codimers were degraded faster in the presence of styrene dimer I than in its absence, but no such effect of dimer I was observed with the latter.
Higashimura
T
T
Department of Polymer Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606, and Fermentation Research Institute, Agency of Industrial Science & Technology, Tsukuba, Ibaragi 305, Japan.
Sawamoto
M
M
Hiza
T
T
Karaiwa
M
M
Tsuchii
A
A
Suzuki
T
T