Electron capture gas chromatographic detection of acethylmethylcarbinol produced by neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Acetylmethylcarbinol (acetoin) production by Neisseria gonorrhoeae and other Neisseria species was established by gas-liquid chromatography and by mass spectrometric data. Sixty-nine isolates of Neisseria were tested by incubating them in a chemically defined fluid medium. The medium was extracted with organic solvents and derivatized with heptafluorobutryic anhydride for gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Cultures of 58 of the same strains were tested with the conventional Voges-Proskauer reagents, and results were compared with those of gas-liquid chromatography. When glucose was used as an energy source, N. gonorrhoeae, some N. meningitidis, and N. lactamica produced enough acetoin in 16 h to be detectable by either method, whereas other Neisseria species produce amounts detectable only by gas chromatography. The conventional acetylmethylcarbinol test with the chemically defined medium and maltose as an energy source might be used to develop methods that would differentiate certain members of the genus, including the pathogenic species.