Application of solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to characterize intermediates in a joint solar-microbial process for total mineralization of Aroclor 1254

A combined solid-phase microextraction-GC-MS analytical technique was used to monitor the formation of metabolites in the biodegradation of biphenyl, which were originally obtained from the solar photodechlorination of Aroclo r 1254 by Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes KF707 and Burkholderia sp LB400. In both cases, the following metabolites were detected: 2-hydroxybiphenyl (2- OH-BP), 2,3-dihydroxybiphenyl (2,3-di-OH-BP), and benzoic acid, which was d etected as its benzoate derivative 1-methylethylbenzoate. A time course stu dy for the formation and disappearance of these metabolites was used to con struct a degradation pathway, which in both cases, involved the formation o f 2-OH-BP and 2,3-di-OH-BP. Crown copyright (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.