Bio-generated metal binding polysaccharides as catalysts for synthetic applications and organic pollutant transformations.

Iron and palladium binding an exopolysaccharide (EPS) were obtained and purified from cultures of bacterial cells of Klebsiella oxytoca BAS-10. The strain BAS-10 was able to grow under anaerobic conditions with Fe(III)-citrate as energy and carbon source, producing Fe(III)-EPS that was extracted and used as catalyst in the oxidation reaction of phenol with H(2)O(2). The same bacterial strain was cultivated anaerobically with Na-citrate and Pd(2)(NO)(3) was added during the exponential growth to afford a Pd-EPS, named Bio-Pd (A), that, after isolation and purification, was used as catalyst in the reductive dehalogenation of chlorobenzene as model reaction. For comparison other two palladium binding polysaccharides were prepared: (a) a second type Pd-EPS, named Bio-Pd (B), was obtained by an exchange reaction with Pd acetate starting from an iron-free EPS produced by strain BAS-10 growing on Na-citrate medium; (b) a third type of palladium, named Bio-Pd (C), bound to a different polysaccharide, was recovered after the same exchange reaction applied on glycolipid emulsan obtained from an aerobic culture of Acinetobacter venetianus RAG 1. The superiority of Bio-Pd (A), as catalyst, vs Bio-Pd (B) and (C) was demonstrated. This approach to use microorganisms to prepare metal bound polysaccharides is novel and permits to prepare metal species, sequestrated in aqueous phase that can be useful either as catalysts for synthetic applications or to support the microbial biotransformation of pollutants.