Aldehydes and ketones produced during fermentation of glucose by Escherichia coli.

Although considerable attention has been given to the identification of keto acids produced during the fermentation of glucose by Escherichia coli, relatively little information has been obtained on the production of aldehydes and ketones. During an investigation of the keto acids produced during glucose fermentation by E. coli 82/r and P6 (D. W. Thayer and J. E. Ogg, Bacteriol. Proc., p. 96, 1964), the study was extended to include aldehydes and ketones. The keto acids, aldehydes, and ketones produced during glucose fermentation were converted to their 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazone derivatives. Samples were taken from 24-hr cultures of E. coli P6 or 82/r grown anaerobically in 0.3 M glucose basal salts medium (J. E. Ogg and R. D. Humphrey, J. Bacteriol. 85:801, 1963). The medium was supplemented with 5 ,ug of adenine sulfate per ml. Cell-free growth liquor