Microbial Degradation of Diphenylamine Under Anoxic Conditions

Diphenylamine (DPA) was cometabolically degraded in anoxic sediment-water batch enrichments and in cultures of newly isolated sulfate-reducing bacteria. In gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) measurements, aniline was identified as a major breakdown product of the diphenylamine structure. After its identification, aniline was quantified by reversed phase high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). The fate of the other carbon ring system remained unclear, because benzene (as a product of reductive cleavage), phenol (as a product of hydrolytic cleavage), and/or other ring cleavage products of diphenylamine were not observed in our experiments with the methods employed.