Abstract
The fungus Syncephalastrum racemosum (Cohn) Schroeter was found to transform the fungicide metalaxyl [N-(2,6-dimethylphenyl)-N-(methoxyacetyl)-alanine methyl ester] in pure culture. After 21 days of incubation in a basal medium amended with 5 μg of metalaxyl per ml, more than 80% of the compound was transformed by the fungus. The transformation rates decreased as the concentrations of metalaxyl increased from 5 to 100 μg/ml. No transformation was observed when the concentration of metalaxyl was higher than 200 μg/ml. Two isomeric metabolites and a mixture of two other isomeric metabolites were isolated from the organic extract of the growth medium and identified as N-(2-methyl-6-hydroxymethylphenyl)-N- and N-(2-hydroxymethyl-6-methylphenyl)-N-(methoxyacetyl)-alanine methyl ester and N-(3-hydroxy- and N-(5-hydroxy-2,6-dimethyl-phenyl)-N-(methoxyacetyl)-alanine methyl ester according to their mass-spectral and nuclear magnetic resonance-spectral characteristics. Benzylic hydroxylation of the methyl side chains and/or aromatic hydroxylation appeared to be the major reactions involved in the metabolism of metalaxyl.
Full text
PDF





Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Saxena A., Zhang R. W., Bollag J. M. Microorganisms capable of metabolizing the herbicide metolachlor. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1987 Feb;53(2):390–396. doi: 10.1128/aem.53.2.390-396.1987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]