The nitroaromatic explosive 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and the related 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT) are toxic environmental pollutants. The biotransformation and detoxication of these persistent compounds in higher organisms are of great significance from a health perspective as well as for the biotechnological challenge of bioremediation of contaminated soil. We demonstrate that different human g...

Explosives materials are stable in soil and recalcitrant to biodegradation. Different authors report that TNT (2,4,6-trinitrotoluene), RDX (hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine) and HMX (octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine) are toxic, but most investigations have been performed in artificial soil with individual substances. The aim of the presented research was to assess the tox...

Pseudomonas putida JLR11 releases nitrogen from the 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) ring as nitrite or ammonium. These processes can occur simultaneously, as shown by the observation that a nasB mutant impaired in the reduction of nitrite to ammonium grew at a slower rate than the parental strain. Nitrogen from TNT is assimilated via the glutamine syntethase-glutamate synthase (GS-GOGAT) pathway, a...

Spores of Clostridium bifermentans KMR-1 were produced for use as a microbial inoculum for bioremediation and were preserved in both liquid and dry forms. All spore formulations showed good viability and ability to biodegrade the target compound, 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), after 4 months of storage. For low-cost bulk spore production, several medium compositions, based on soy peptone, corn st...

A convective flow system is engendered when two liquid droplets, or a liquid droplet and a solid surface, are maintained at different temperatures. Such flows give rise to Marangoni forces which under proper conditions prevent droplet coalescence, cause fluid motion, and dewetting. We present a study of adsorbed and applied fluid movement on a solid surface driven by surface tension gradients c...

Susceptibility of chemical sensors to false positive signals remains a common drawback due to insufficient sensor coating selectivity. By mimicking biology, we have demonstrated the use of sequence-specific biopolymers to generate highly selective receptors for trinitrotoluene and 2,4-dinitrotoluene. Using mutational analysis, we show that the identified binding peptides recognize the target su...

A novel approach for identifying explosive species is reported, using Raman spectroscopy in suspended core optical fibers. Numerical simulations are presented that predict the strength of the observed signal as a function of fiber geometry, with the calculated trends verified experimentally and used to optimize the sensors. This technique is used to identify hydrogen peroxide in water solutions...

High-performance chemiresistive sensors were made using a porous thin film of single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) coated with a carbazolylethynylene (Tg-Car) oligomer for trace vapor detection of nitroaromatic explosives. The sensors detect low concentrations of 4-nitrotoluene (NT), 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), and 2,4-dinitrotoluene (DNT) vapors at ppb to ppt levels. The sensors also show hi...

We report ultrasensitive and label-free detection of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) deposited by drop coating using deep-ultraviolet surface-enhanced resonance Raman scattering (DUV-SERRS). Well-defined aluminum nanoparticle arrays as the SERRS substrate at 257 nm excitation wavelength enabled highly reproducible and real-time detection of TNT down to the detection limit of the attogram level in q...