Premium
Biodegradation of three azaarene congeners in river water
Author(s) -
Cassidy Richard A.,
Birge Wesley J.,
Black Jeffrey A.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
environmental toxicology and chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1552-8618
pISSN - 0730-7268
DOI - 10.1002/etc.5620070203
Subject(s) - quinoline , acridine , biodegradation , pyridine , chemistry , environmental chemistry , substrate (aquarium) , chromatography , biology , ecology , organic chemistry
The biodegradability of three structurally related azaarenes (pyridine, quinoline, and acridine) at various concentrations (which gave 0 to 100% lethality to embryo‐larval stages of an indigenous frog species) was determined using a river water die‐away test and water collected from the Green River (Newton, KY). HPLC analyses of the amended river water during the 6‐ to 11‐d study revealed rapid removal of pyridine and quinoline at the lower substrate concentrations; however, no change in the acridine concentrations was detected during the 11‐d study. Except for the lowest quinoline concentration, the turnover times and latent periods for pyridine and quinoline increased with higher initial concentrations, but the kinetics of microbial oxidation were constant at all but the highest concentrations. The adaptation of previously exposed river flora was determined by respiking degraded waters. When the flora were reexposed to the substrates there was no latent period and the kinetics were superimposable. By tracking the metabolites of quinoline, sequential oxidation of the parent compound to more polar species was demonstrated. It was determined by co‐culturing quinoline and acridine that acridine nondegradability was not due to any inhibitory effect that acridine may have on the river flora.