Carbon stable isotope fractionation of sulfamethoxazole during biodegradation by microbacterium sp. strain BR1 and upon direct photolysis

Carbon isotope fractionation of sulfamethoxazole (SMX) during biodegradation by Microbacterium sp. strain BR1 (ipso-hydroxylation) and upon direct photolysis was investigated. Carbon isotope signatures (delta C-13) of SMX were measured by LC-IRMS (liquid chromatography coupled to isotope ratio mass spectrometry). A new LC-IRMS method for the SMX metabolite, 3-amino-5-methylisoxazole (3A5MI), was established. Carbon isotope enrichment factors for SMX (epsilon(C)) were -0.6 +/- 0.1 parts per thousand for biodegradation and -2.0 +/- 0.1 parts per thousand and -3.0 +/- 0.2 parts per thousand for direct photolysis, at pH 7.4 and pH 5, respectively. The corresponding apparent kinetic isotope effects (AKIE) for ipso-hydroxylation were 1.006 +/- 0.001; these fall in the same range as AKIE in previously studied hydroxylation reactions. The differences in SMX and 3A5MI fractionation upon biotic and abiotic degradation suggest that compound specific stable isotope analysis (CSIA) is a suitable method to distinguish SMX reaction pathways. In addition, the study revealed that the extent of isotope fractionation during SMX photolytic cleavage is pH-dependent.