The purpose of this study was to see if any soil bacteria were able to use pentachlorophenol or sodium pentachlorophenate either aerobically or anaerobically as a sole carbon source, to see if any soil bacteria could survive in high concentrations of sodium pentachlorophenate, to determine the maximum concentration of sodium pentachlorophenate which permitted the growth of some soil bacteria, to see the effects of varying concentrations of sodium pentachlorophenate on the growth curves of soil bacteria capable of growing in its presence, and to see if any soil bacteria could degrade sodium pentachlorophenate.

Twenty-two different unialgal clonal isolates have been obtained at random for experimental purposes over a period of about one year. Also, during this period, at least 12 other species or strains have been isolated into unialgal cultures which had not yet been identified and/or significantly cleared of heterotrophic contaminants.

The classification of the Azotobacteraceae to the level of genus and species has been uncertain since the studies of Beijerinck in 1901. This dissertation represents an effort to establish a system of classification more complete than the one now in use. In this study, both qualitative and quantitative taxonomy were used in order to establish a well founded classification scheme. Qualitative methods included certain important morphological and physiological characteristics, isoenzyme patterns, and immunological reactions. Quantitative methods included numerical taxonomy (based on total morphological and physiological characteristics) and numerical analysis of protein profiles. All the data from these experiments were subject to comparison with other genotypic and phenotypic data.