THE USE OF H-1 NUCLEAR-MAGNETIC-RESONANCE SPECTROSCOPY AND GAS-LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY TO DETERMINE THE EFFECTS OF FUNGAL BIODETERIORATION ON DEFINED SYNTHETIC METAL-WORKING FLUIDS

Synthetic metal-working fluids are susceptible to in-use contamination by filamentous fungi, and a number of these organisms are able to uti lise individual fluid components as sole sour ces of carbon or nitroge n for growth. However, the finding that certain fluid components are s usceptible when inoculated in isolation does not necessarily indicate that the same would be equally true in the more complex environment of a complete fluid. The techniques of H-1 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Sp ectroscopy (NMR) and Gas Liquid Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GLC- MS) were therefore used to investigate the fate of individual fluid co mponents as a result of fungal biodeterioration. Triethanolamine and a mine berate were found to be particularly goad soul ces of both car-bo n and nitrogen for growth of filamentous fungi, although individual te st species exhibited significant differences in their relative affinit ies for these substrates. The susceptibility of amine berate to fungal metabolism is considered of interest since one of the reasons for inc luding this component in the formulations of aqueous metal-working flu ids is its reputed ability to confer a degree of resistance to biodete rioration.