The bacterial production of acetylmethylcarbinol and 2.3-butylene glycol from various substances

Abstract

Abstract In working out the action of B. lactis aërogenes on glucose quantitatively, Harden and Walpole (1) found that, in addition to the products already noted in the action of B. coli communis on glucose (2), a small quantity of acetyl-methylcarbinol, CH3·CH(OH)·CO·CH3, and a· considerable proportion of 2.3-butylene glycol, CH3·CH(OH)·CH(OH)·CH3, were formed, the latter corresponding to about 33 per cent. of the carbon of the sugar fermented. The production of acetylmethylcarbinol by the action of Tyrothrix tenuis, B. Subtilis and B. mesentericus vulgatus, and similar organisms on glucose, had been previously noted by Grimbert (3) and by Desmots (4). The presence of acetylmethylcarbinol is of especial interest, as it has been shown to be the substance responsible for the Voges and Proskauer reaction (5). In view of this fact, and of the interest attaching to this mode of decomposition of glucose, it becomes a matter of some importance to discover what substances will give rise to acetylmethylcarbinol and butylene glycol during fermentation, and also which bacteria are capable of producing these two compounds. B. lactis aërogenes and B. cloacæ have been shown to produce both substances from glucose, mannitol, and fructose (6, 7, 8); hence, in the first place, the action of these organisms was studies, and similar experiments were later carried out with B. coli communis, but with negative results.