Synthesis of Dimethyl Selenone and Studies on the Biomethylation Intermediates of Selenium Reduction and Methylation A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of Chemistry Sam Houston State University In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirement for the Degree of Master Of Science By Limin Zhang December, 1993 Synthesis of Dimethyl Selenone and Studies on the Biomethylation Intermediates of Selenium Reduction and Methylation by Limin Zhang APPROVED: Thomas G. Chasteen, Thesis Director Mary F. Plishker Benny E. Arney, Jr. Approved: Richard Cording, Dean College of Arts and Sciences Abstract ZHANG, LIMINLIMIN, Synthesis of Dimethyl Selenone and Studies on the Biomethylation Intermediates of Selenium Reduction and Methy- lation. Master of Science (Chemistry), December, 1993, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas. Purpose This investigation was undertaken for the purpose of determin- ing whether or not dimethyl selenone could be an intermediate of biomethylation and transformation of inorganic selenium in bacte- rial cultures. The possible pathways for the synthesis of dimethyl selenone were also investigated. Method The reactions of the synthesis of dimethyl selenone were carried out in a methylene chloride solution of 3-chloroperoxybenzoic acid and dimethyl selenide. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, elemental analysis and melting point analysis were used to characterize the dimethyl sele- none formed. Pseudomonas fluorescens K27 was grown in tryptic soy broth containing 0.1% potassium nitrate, TSN medium. All test tubes and filters were autoclaved before using. Both medium and aqueous i solutions of selenium containing salts were sterilized by using steril- ized filters. A Hewlett Packard 5890 Series II gas chromatograph coupled with a Sievers Research Model 300 Sulfur Chemilumines- cence Detector was used as the principal tool for this research. Findings 3-Chloroperoxybenzoic acid (m-CPBA) (65%) was found to readily oxidize dimethyl selenide (DMSe) at 200C in 2 hours. The optimum ratio of m-CPBA to DMSe was 3:1 mole equivalents. Pseudomonas fluorescens K27 grew well in sterilized TSN me- dium. Dimethyl selenone was tentatively identified as one of the intermediates of biomethylation of inorganic selenium because very large amount of volatile selenium compounds such as dimethyl selenide, dimethyl diselenide (DMDSe) and probably dimethyl sele- nenyl sulfide (DMSeS) were observed after the K27 cultures were dosed with dimethyl selenone. Gas phase concentrations of volatile DMSe and DMDSe formed above selenone dosed cultures were about 4000 times and 1000 times more (respectively) than those observed above sodium selenate dosed cultures poisoned with the same con- centration. If dimethyl selenone is a biological intermediate of the reduction and methylation of selenium oxyanions, then the final reduction step to dimethyl selenide and dimethyl diselenide may occur by chemical means via reduction by dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulfide. Thomas G. Chasteen Thesis Director ii Acknowledgments I wish to express my appreciation and thanks to Dr. Thomas G. Chasteen, my thesis advisor, for the great amount of time, effort, support and invaluable guidance that he gave in helping complete this thesis project. His humor and intelligence have helped me through the long, smelly and toxic experiments. I would also like to thank Dr. Mary F. Plishker, Dr. Benny E. Arney, Jr. and Dr. Ricky C. White for their great suggestions and time devoted to this research. Mr. Steve L. McCarty in Chasteen’s research group has also pro- vided great support to my work. I would also like to thank him. A special thanks go to my husband Fang Deng who has given me the assistance and constant support I needed to complete this thesis. My thesis is dedicated to my parents who have always loved me, supported me and encouraged me. iii Table of Contents Abstract Chapter I. Introduction 1 Chapter II. Experimental Methods 8 Chapter III. Data 17 Chapter IV. Discussions and Results 30 Conclusions 39 Bibliography 40 Appendix 43 Vitae 44 iv 1 Chapter I Introduction Selenium and its compounds have been of considerable biologi- cal interest for a long time because they are both required by and highly toxic to human beings and animals. From the public health standpoint, trace amounts of selenium are important but they are harmful to organisms in the environment at higher concentrations. Movement of toxic inorganic selenium through the geocycle and its biological methylation in the environment to volatile products have also attracted attention. Methylation often leads to a change in both mobility and toxicity of the element. The conversion of oxyanious compounds containing inorganic selenium such as selenate(VI) and selenite(IV) to volatile methylated species such as dimethyl selenide and dimethyl diselenide by plants, microorgan- isms and mammals has been well documented in the literature (Challenger and North, 1934; Lewis et al., 1966; Jiang et al., 1983). The biological methylation of inorganic selenium by microorgan- isms has been investigated since the early 1930s beginning with Challenger and co-workers. In 1934, Challenger and North reported that fungi in culture are able to methylate inorganic selenium (Chal- lenger and North, 1934). In the 1970s, information on microorgan- isms' ability to methylate some heavy metals such as Hg (Wood, 1974), As (Braman and Foreback, 1973; Wood, 1974), and Pb (Wong et al., 1975) was published. For heavy metals such as Hg and Pb, microorganisms have the capacity to metabolize certain compounds containing these elements and the resulting transformations could 2 thus yield more toxic products (Wood, 1974; Wong, et al. 1975). In 1974, Francis and co-workers noted that dimethyl selenide was evolved from samples of soil (Francis et al., 1974). Hence, methyla- tion reactions may be of importance to the transformations of sele- nium in natural ecosystems. With inorganic selenium, biomethylation processes by microor- ganisms can produce volatile organic metabolic compounds that are less toxic than the original forms (McConnell and Portman, 1952; Sigel and Sigel, 1993). As selenium is of interest as a potential envi- ronmental toxicant, attentions have been focused on the biodegra- dation and transformation processes of selenium in the environ- ment. Some investigations have been done to develop a detailed under- standing of the mechanism of biomethylation and transformation of selenium. In 1945, Challenger suggested a mechanism (Scheme 1) that involves four steps in which the selenium atom is methylated and reduced to form volatile dimethyl selenide (Challenger, 1945). But this mechanism did not involve dimethyl diselenide. Many workers have observed dimethyl diselenide in the headspace above selenium resistant cultures (Reamer and Zoller, 1980; Chasteen et al., 1990; Chasteen, 1993; McCarty et al., 1993). None of the postu- lated, intermediate selenium compounds was detected in culture solutions; however, dimethyl selenone is the only postulated inter- mediate which may be stable enough to be isolated by normal means. Dimethyl selenone has never been synthesized and pur- posely introduced into bacterial cultures to probe the mechanism. 3 Methylation Ionization & Reduction HSeO - - 3 CH3SeO3HCH3SeO2 selenite methane selenonic acid methaneselenic acid Methylation Reduction (CH3 )2 SeO2 (CH3)2Se dimethyl selenone dimethyl selenide Scheme 1 More recently, Reamer and Zoller (1980) proposed an expanded mechanism (Scheme 2) based on their identification of dimethyl selenide, dimethyl diselenide, and dimethyl selenone as products from soil and sewage amended with selenite or elemental selenium. Recent evidence suggests, however that their detection of dimethyl selenone was probably in error and that they confused dimethyl selenone for dimethyl selenenyl sulfide instead (Chasteen, 1993). Hydrolysis + - Methylation H2SeO3 or Na2SeO3 H SeO3H selenite selenonic acid Reduction Reduction CH SeO H - 3 3 CH3SeO2 CH3SeH methane selenonic acid or CH3SeOH Methylation (CH ) Se 3 2 (CH3)2SeO2 CH3SeSeCH3 dimethyl selenide dimethyl selenone dimethyl diselenide Scheme 2 4 Doran (1982) suggested that the methylation of inorganic Se may first involve reduction of selenite to the elemental Se and then re- duction to the selenide form, which is subsequently methylated to form dimethyl selenide (Scheme 3). Many workers have found el- emental selenium in bacterial cultures doped with oxidized selenium salts (Francis et al., 1974; Doran and Alexander, 1977; Steinberg and Oremland, 1990). Our bacterial cultures doped with oxyanions of selenium often yielded a red precipitate that is probably selenium. - Reduction 0 Reduction SeO3 Se HSeX selenite elemental Se selenide Methylation Methylation CH3SeH (CH3)2Se methane selenol dimethyl selenide Scheme 3 The present investigation was initiated to study one possible pathway of the biomethylation process of selenium salts by Pseudomonas fluorescens K27, a selenium resistant bacterial strain which was isolated from Kesterson Reservoir in the San Joaquin valley of central California (Burton et al., 1987). Our studies were focused on identifying whether or not dimethyl selenone may act as an intermediate of the biomethylation process. We have noticed that both of the mechanisms of Challenger and of Reamer and Zoller involved dimethyl selenone as an intermediate of the biomethylation process. This compound was never tested by Challenger but it was reported by Reamer