Abiotic reduction of 4-chloronitrobenzene to 4-chloroaniline in a dissimilatory iron-reducing enrichment culture

Abstract

4-chloronitrobenzene (4-Cl-NB) was rapidly reduced to 4-chloroaniline with half-lives of minutes in a dissimilatory Fe(III)-reducing enrichment culture. The initial pseudo-first-order rate constants at 25°C ranged from 0.11 to 0.19 per minute. The linear Arrhenius correlation in a temperature range of 6 to 85°C and the unchanged reactivity after pasteurization indicated that the nitroreduction occurred abiotically. A fine-grained black solid which was identified as poorly crystalline magnetite (Fe3O4) by X-ray diffraction accumulated in the enrichments. Magnetite produced by the Fe(III)-reducing bacterium Geobacter metallireducens GS-15 and synthetic magnetite also reduced 4-Cl-NB. These results suggest that the reduction of 4-Cl-NB by the enrichment material was a surface-mediated reaction by dissimilatory formed Fe(II) associated with magnetite.