CAN MICROORGANISMS CONVERT ANTIMONY TRIOXIDE OR POTASSIUM ANTIMONYL TARTRATE TO METHYLATED STIBINES

No evidence could be found for the production, in culture, of methylat ed antimony compounds from water-insoluble or soluble antimony derivat ives by the aerobes, Scopulariopsis brevicaulis or Bacillus sp. or by anaerobes associated with cot mattress materials. The study does not s upport the hypothesis that volatile organoantimony compounds are a cau se of cot deaths. Anaerobic cultures from a polluted pond generated tr imethylstibine from potassium antimonyl tartrate. (C) 1997 Elsevier Sc ience B.V.