Microbially Mediated Formation of Benzonaphthothiophenes from Benzo[b]thiophenes

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Studies of the microbial metabolism of benzo[b]thiophene (molecular weight 134) by three Pseudomonas isolates showed the formation of benzothiophene sulfoxide, benzothiophene sulfone, and a sulfur-containing metabolite with a molecular weight of 234. Desulfurization of the high-molecular-weight product with nickel boride gave 1-phenylnaphthalene, indicating that the metabolite was benzo[b]naphtho[1,2-d]thiophene. Similarly, the isolates were capable of producing the analogous dimethyl-substituted benzonaphthothiophenes from methylbenzothiophenes that had the methyl substitution on the benzene ring. The formation of benzo[b] naphtho[1,2-d]thiophene was also observed when a petroleum-degrading mixed culture was incubated with benzothiophene-supplemented Prudhoe Bay crude oil. Investigations into the mechanism of formation of these high-molecular-weight compounds showed that they resulted from an abiotic, Diels-Alder-type condensation of two molecules of the sulfoxide, which were microbially produced from the respective benzothiophene, with the subsequent loss of two atoms of hydrogen and oxygen and one atom of sulfur. The condensation products also formed from the sulfoxides of benzothiophene and methylbenzothiophenes when the sulfoxides were enzymatically synthesized by oxidation of the benzothiophene with horse heart cytochrome c and H2O2.

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