Quantification of Polymerisation Processes During The Oxidative Degradation of 14C-Labelled Chlorophenols

In experiments employing the lignocellulose-decaying basidiomycetes Trametes versicolor and Stropharia rugosoannulata degrading uniformly¹⁴C-labelled 2,4-dichlorophenol and pentachlorophenol, acombination of size exclusion chromatography (SEC),fractionation, and -scintillation counting wasapplied to quantify polymerisation products formed duringchlorophenol degradation. Time-dependent mass balances weregenerated by analysis of ¹⁴C in polymerisation products,CO₂, as well as monomer non-polar and polar metabolites.Approximately 30% of the chlorophenols were found to bepolymerised. A major fraction of the polymerised productscorresponded to a molecular weight range from 0.24 – 40 kDa.Only a minor fraction could be attributed to a molecularweight >40 kDa. This method proved to be useful inquantification of polymerisation products and kinetics of thepolymerisation processes, whereas UV/Vis detection ofpolymerisation products separated by SEC led to false positiveresults. The SEC-¹⁴C method could also be applied forother complex processes where polymerisation ordepolymerisation occurs (humification, degradation oflignocellulose, formation of bound residues from xenobioticssuch as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene) and where spectrophotometric determinationsare difficult or impossible.