Origin and relationship of acetylmethylcarbinol to 2:3-butylene glycol in bacterial fermentations

No general agreement exists as to the mechanism of the biological origin of acetyl- methylcarbinol and 2:3-butylene glycol, although these products are formed by the dissimilation of various carbohydrates and polyhydric alcohols by many species of bacteria.The purpose of the present communication is to contribute to our knowledge of the mechanism of the formation of acetylmethylcarbinol and 2:3-butylene glycol by Aero- bacillus polymyxa (Prazmowski) Donker, an organism which produces considerable quantities of these products.Studies were made using as cultural media both glucose- peptone and glucose-peptone plus several probable intermediary compounds.Desmots [1904] found acetylmethylcarbinol in cultures of Bacillus mesentericus.Organisms which produce acetylmethylcarbinol generally form 2:3-butylene glycol, the reduction product of the carbinol.Harden & Walpole [1906] isolated and described both 2:3-butylene glycol and acetylmethylcarbinol from the fermentation of glucose by Aerobacter aerogenes.Harden & Norris [1912] found that Aerobacter aerogenes and Aero- bacter cloacae, when grown in a peptone solution containing any one of a series of-sugars and polyhydric alcohols, produee both the carbinol and, the glycol.Lemoigne [1919; 1923] found the carbinol to be formed by species of Proteus and by Bacillus anthracis.Neuberg & Reinfurth [1923], Kluyver, Donker & Visser't Hooft [1925] and Elion [1926] found it in yeast cultures.Lemoigne [1912], Lafon [1932], and Horowitz-Wlassowa & Rodionowa [1933] showed that the carbinol was present in cultures of Bacillus subtilis; van Niel, Kluyver & Derx [1929] detected it in cultures of Streptococcus cremoris, and first suggested the importance to flavour and aroma of the presence of acetylmethylcarbinol in butter cultures.Michaelian, Farmer & Hammer [1933] have conducted extensive in-