DIFFERENTIATION OF MICROORGANISMS BY MEANS OF THE INFRARED SPECTRA OF THEIR ACETONE EXTRACTS

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A method for the identification of microorganisms by comparing the infrared spectra of aqueous acetone extracts instead of the spectra of the entire organisms is described. The procedure consists of 6 independent steps: (a) careful culture of the microorganisms on the same selected growth medium and under standardized growth conditions, (b) cell disintegration with a mechanical grinder, (c) acetone extraction under analytically controlled conditions, (d) preparation of smears of the microorganism extract on silver chloride discs, (e) measurement of the infrared absorption spectra of the organisms on silver chloride discs against a plate containing no extract, and (f) comparison of the spectra of the acetone extract with a catalogue of the spectra of acetone extracts of known bacteria. The details of each step in the proposed procedure, the reproducibility of the entire method, and the advantages of the acetone extraction procedure over spectra of the entire organism are described. The further advantages of successive extraction with a series of a small number of carefully selected solvents are cited.
Keywords