A variety of nitroaromatic compounds, including 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), were reduced by hydrogen in the presence of enzyme preparations from Veillonella alkalescens. Consistent with the proposed reduction pathway, R-NO2 R-NO R-NHOH H, R-NH2, 3 mol of H2 was utilized per mol of nitro group. The rates of reduction of 40 mono-, di-, and trinitroaromatic compounds by V. alkalescens extract were determined. The reactivity of the nitro groups depended on other substituents and on the position of the nitro groups relative to these substituents. In the case of the nitrotoluenes, the para-nitro group was the most readily reduced, the 4-nitro position of 2,4-dinitrotoluene being reduced first. The pattern of reduction of TNT (disappearance of TNT and reduction products formed) depended on the type of preparation (cell-free extract, resting cells, or growing culture), on the species, and on the atmosphere (air or H2). The

Biodegradation of the explosive hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) occurs under anaerobic conditions, yielding a number of products, including: hexahydro-1-nitroso-3,5-dinitro-1,3,5-triazine, hexahydro-1,3-dinitroso-5-nitro-1,3,5-triazine, hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitroso-1,3,5-triazine, hydrazine, 1,1-dimethyl-hydrazine, 1,2-dimethylhydrazine, formaldehyde, and methanol. A scheme for the biodegradation of RDX is proposed which proceeds via successive reduction of the nitro groups to a point where destabilization and fragmentation of the ring occurs. The noncyclic degradation products arise via subsequent reduction and rearrangement reactions of the fragments. The scheme suggests the presence of several additional compounds, not yet identified. Several of the products are mutagenic or carcinogenic or both. Anaerobic treatment of RDX wastewaters, which also contain high nitrate levels, would permit the denitrification to occur, with concurrent degradation of RDX ultimately to a mixture of hydrazines and methanol. The feasibility of using an aerobic mode in the further degradation of these products is discussed.

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The fate of "4C-labeled 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) in an activated-sludge system was investigated. No [14C]TNT could be detected in the contents of an aerated reactor after 3 to 5 days of incubation. No significant 14C02 was formed, and the radioactivity was about equally divided between the floc and the supernatant. The radioactive carbon present in the microflora was mainly associated with the lipid and protein components, but the characteristic constituents of these compounds (e.g., fatty acids and amino acids) were not radioactive. The

The products of microbial transformation of 2,4-dinitrotoluene by Mucrosporium sp. were identified by thin-layer chromatography and by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry as 2-amino-4-nitrotoluene, 4-amino-2-nitrotoluene, 2,2'dinitro-4,4'-azoxytoluene, 4,4'-dinitro-2,2'-azoxytoluene, and 4-acetamido-2-nitrotoluene. A third azoxy compound, believed to be a "mixed" type (i.e., 2,4'-azoxy or 4,2'-azoxy), was isolated but not yet identified.