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Appl Environ Microbiol. 1983 August; 46(2): 386-391
Copyright © 1983, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Effect of Methyl Substitution on Microbial Degradation of Linear Styrene Dimers by Two Soil Bacteria

¹ Department of Polymer Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606, and Fermentation Research Institute, Agency of Industrial Science & Technology, Tsukuba, Ibaragi 305, ² Japan

ABSTRACT

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.