Various metals and metalloids can be converted by a
variety of microorganisms to their volatile methyl
derivatives.
These bioconversions are important from an
environmental
perspective because they take place over long time
periods and the products have quite different properties
(e.g., transportation, toxicological) as compared to the
inorganic species from which they are derived.
Whereas
the biomethylation of arsenic is well established, that of
the closely related element antimony is not, and there are
no reports of antimony methylation by monoseptic microbial
cultures. We report here, for the first time, the formation
of
trimethylantimony [(CH3)3Sb] by a
characterized microorganism, Scopulariopsis brevicaulis, grown aerobically
in
the presence of inorganic antimony. Volatile antimony
evolved into the headspace above the fungal cultures was
quantified by remote trapping and analysis by inductively
coupled plasma−mass spectrometry (ICP−MS). The
existence of biogenic trimethylantimony was established,
following exclusion of oxygen from cultures after growth,
by remote trapping of volatile compounds and analysis by
gas chromatography with compound-specific (mass
spectrometry) or element-specific (atomic absorption)
detec
tion. No other volatile product containing antimony
was
detected in culture headspace gases.
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