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Cyanide was rapidly removed when added to culture supernatants of seven different Pseudomonas. The ability to remove cyanide was correlated with the accumulation of α-keto acids (pyruvate and α-ketoglutarate). These compounds react with cyanide forming less toxic cyanohydrins, thus conferring a mechanism for bacterial cyanide tolerance. When added to growth media the α-keto acids were shown also to serve as effective cyanide antagonists. While all bacteria tested accumulated α-keto acids, only those capable of utilizing cyanide as a nutritional nitrogen source were able to metabolize cyanohydrins. In P. fluorescens NCIMB 11764, the same enzyme (cyanide oxygenase) shown previously to be involved in cyanide metabolism appears responsible for cyanohydrin transformation. Keto acid excretion is believed to represent a new mechanism of bacterial cyanide detoxification with further enzymatic metabolism of the cyanohydrins helping to explain how cyanide can satisfy the nitrogen requirement in cyanide-utilizing bacteria.

Magnesidin is a magnesium chelate of the 3-hexanoyl and 3-octanoyl tetramic acid derivatives isolated from Psuedomonas magensiorubra. Its activity against grampositive bacteria was found to be a specific target for Gingivitis, a dental plaque.Although the synthesis of magnesidin has been reported earlier, it was not reproducible. The highly polar nature and it’s ability to exhibit tautomerization makes their chemical behavior complex and difficult to predict its structure. A variety of reactions and an in depth understanding of the chemical structure is necessary to attain the synthesis of these compounds. This dissertation focuses on addressing the attempts towards the synthesis of Magnesidin by identifying the important intermediates necessary for the synthesis as β- keto esters, α,β-unsaturated amino esters. The focus of the work has been addressed by developing a TAG molecule approach, which is similar to the concept of solid phase synthesis except for the fact that the TAG molecule can be identified under UV and also can be detected using various spectroscopic techniques. Microwave synthesis has been explored and applied in to the synthesis of benzyl mono and di bromination, 1,3- benzodioxoles have been established. The benzyl mono bromination is applied to synthesize the TAG molecule, which is then applied in developing a method of synthesis for β-keto esters. The azide approach was used to synthesize the α,β- unsaturated amides, which are another essential class of compounds in the synthesis of magnesidin.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, 2005. / Typescript (photocopy).