Analysis of acetoin and diacetyl in bacterial culture supernatants by gas-liquid chromatography.

The acetoin and diacetyl contents of culture supernatants of Voges-Proskauer-positive "viridans" streptotocci, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus, were determined by a gas liquid chromatographic procedure, in which supernatants were extracted with diethyl ether and diacetyl was measured on columns of 10% (wt/wt) polyethylene glycol 400 (PEG 400) at 73 C. Acetoin was converted to diacetyl, before analysis, by a simple oxidation procedure with ferric chloride and without a distillation step. Streptococcal culture supernatants were shown by this method to contain only acetoin; supernatants of K. pneumoniae and S. aureus contained both acetoin and diacetyl.