The effect of concentration, time and temperature on the viability of Penicillium notatum spores exposed to phenols

Abstract

Abstract Spores of Penicillium notatum exposed to resorcinol, p-chlorophenol, m-cresol, chlorocresol and hexylresorcinol, give values for the concentration exponent, n, from 7.3 to 3.7 when calculated from first order reaction velocities; higher values are obtained from the times for fixed mortality levels. Values of the temperature coefficient, θ, vary from 1.045–1.331. The log survivor-time curves are convex to the axes for resorcinol and increasingly concave in the order of decreasing water solubility for the other phenols. Equitoxic (99% mortality in 20 min) molar concentrations of the phenols have about a 680-fold range, but Ferguson values, except for resorcinol, vary only from 0.10 to 0.26.