Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 9.25
Metabolism of metolachlor
by
Cunninghamella elegans
.
Fig. 9.26
The dioxygenase pathway for
the biodegradation of arenes.
Another application of biocatalytic processing rel-
evant to the military area concerns the remediation
of soils and water run-off from former military sites
that are contaminated with explosives. A number of
microbial systems are known to be capable of the
mineralisation of TNT (2,4,6-trinitrotoluene): some
of these operate via reduction of nitro groups to
amines [88], but others such as
Pseudomonas savas-
tanoi
also perform reductive denitration to yield
products such as 2,4-dinitrotoluene [89].
Many bacterial systems are capable of the oxida-
tion of aromatic hydrocarbons using a pathway
dependent on the activity of dioxygenase enzymes
for the oxidation of an arene to a
cis
-dihydrodiol as
