A new approach to the analysis of metabolic pathways involving poorly water-soluble intermediates is proposed. It (2 g), KH2PO4 (2 g), CaCl2 (0.13 g), FeSO4 (0.01 g), MgSO4 (3 g), and Tween 80 (2 g) were added to distilled water (1 liter), and the pH was adjusted to 6 with 2 M NaOH. One hundred milliliters of this medium was inoculated with a 1% subculture in 250-ml flasks (previously sterilized at 121°C for 20 min). The cultures were then incubated at 25°C with orbital agitation (200 rpm).The number of viable cells was determined by counting the number of colonies formed after 5 days on Petri dishes containing malt agar medium. The inoculum consisted of 0.1 ml of a suitable dilution of the cultures in water containing 1% peptone. The specific growth rate (,u) was calculated on the basis of colony-forming units per hour. GC and GC-MS Analyses. GC and GC-MS analyses were performed using HP 5890 GC and HPMSD 5970 GC-MS instruments with an HP1 column (1200 x 0.020 cm; film thickness = 0.33 ,um) and using helium as a carrier gas at a linear flow rate of 35 cm/s. The injector temperature was set to 250°C, and the interface was at 280°C. The oven temperature was programmed from 80-250°C at 4°C per min. The electronic impact energy was set at 70 eV, and data were collected in the range of 72-500 atomic mass units. For sample preparation, the culture suspension was centrifuged (4000 rpm for 3 min) and a 2-ml portion of the decane layer was dried prior to silylation with 100 gul of 50% (wt/vol) bis(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide (BSTFA) in pyridine.