DDT metabolites and analogs: ring fission by Hydrogenomonas.

A Hydrogenomonas cleaved one of the rings of p,p'-dichlorodiphenylmethane, a product of DDT metabolism, to yield p-chlorophenylacetate and further metabolized the latter compound. Products of microbial degradation of other diphenylmethanes were also identified. Substituents on the methylene-carbon and para-chloro substitution are critical factors governing resistance of DDT and related compounds to aerobic metabolism and decomposition by the bacterium.