[Identification of a strain NJ2 hydroxylating imidacloprid and the transformed product]

A strain named NJ2 was isolated from the soils in Nanjing area, and its resting cells transformed IMI into a polar product. The strain was identified as Stenotrophomonas maltophilia based on BioMerieux Vitek system and the analysis of 16S rDNA sequence. Mass spectrometry of the product extracted with an organic solvent and re-crystallization gave m/z value of 272 for the molecular ion while 256 for substrate IMI. It demonstrated that the transformed product was the hydroxylated derivate of IMI or hydroxy IMI. NMR analysis further indicated that the hydroxyl moiety located at the ring of imidazolidine and the transformed product was 5-hydroxy IMI. Kinetics of transformation IMI showed that the content of IMI decreased 1.15 mmol/L and the content of transformed product 5-hydroxy IMI increased 1.10 mmol/L after transformation for 10 days. The molar conversion yield was 95.9%. The S. maltophilia NJ2 strain, with the characterization of strong transformation ability and high molar conversion yield, can be used in industrial production of 5-hydroxy IMI for synthesis of highly insecticidal olefin IMI.