In vitro anaerobic trinitrotoluene (TNT) degradation with rumen fluid ...

In summary of the anaerobic conditions, there was no evidence of ring
cleavage, but TNT reduction rates were faster than when exposed to aerobic
conditions. The polymerization of HADNT was negligible or was not detected.
Furthermore, complete TNT reduction to TAT was accomplished only for anaerobic
conditions (24). Sulfite reductase, nitrite reductase, or hydrogenase catalyzed the
reduction of nitro groups. The reduction of para-positioned nitrogroups was followed
by ortho-positioned groups. As observed by Boopathy and Kulpa (5), the TNT
removal rate under conditions of denitrification was higher than other conditions when
TNT was involved in cometabolism. Figure 1.2 represents integrated pathways of
TNT degradation for different energy sources exposed to anaerobic processes.
Desirable results for the anaerobic degradation of explosives include deaminization
processes when TNT acted as the nitrogen source (3, 4, 10), and hydroxylation of
nitro groups of TNT by unspecified enzymes (13, 25).
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