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Appl Environ Microbiol. 1979 February; 37(2): 237-243

Determination of the Carbon-Bound Electron Composition of Microbial Cells and Metabolites by Dichromate Oxidation

Department of Soil Science, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706

ABSTRACT

The applicability of the silver sulfate-acid dichromate oxidation (chemical oxygen demand) method for determining the carbon-bound electron compositions of microbial cells, substrates, and metabolic by-products was evaluated. An approach for approximating the carbon-bound electron composition of microbial cells from CHN data is also presented. Ten aliphatic and aromatic carboxylic acids, 17 amino acids, and 8 sugars generally gave 96 to 101% (mainly 98%) recovery with 0.0625 N dichromate (digestion mixture of 10 ml of sample-10 ml of 0.25 N dichromate-20 ml of Ag₂SO₄-amended concentrated H₂SO₄). Recoveries of nicotinic acid (5%) and methionine (65%) were incomplete; arginine (125%) and two purine and three pyrimidine bases (105 to 120%) were overestimated. The validity of 0.0625 N dichromate for determining the carbon-bound electron composition of bacterial cells was supported by theoretical analysis of the carbon-bound electron composition of hypothetical bacterial cell material (defined monomer composition) and by the compatibility of elemental and dichromate oxidation-derived carbon-bound electron compositions of typical bacterial cells.

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