Extraction, isolation and NMR data of the tetraether lipid calditoglycerocaldarchaeol (GDNT) from Sulfolobus metallicus harvested from a bioleaching reactor

The successful extraction and isolation of the hydrolysed tetraether lipid calditoglycerocaldarchaeol (GDNT) from Sulfolobus metallicus, a key thermophilic bioleaching archaeon, is described. The archaeal biomass was recovered directly from a thermophilic (68 °C) bioleaching tank reactor used to extract nickel from a pentlandite mineral concentrate. The initial Soxhlet extraction method employed was scaled to a bench-scale extraction procedure suitable for the preparation of gram-scale quantities of GDNT. The GDNT so obtained was analysed by 1D- and 2D-NMR techniques, providing the first complete 13C and 2D-NMR data-set for GDNT, including that for the intact underivatised calditol moiety. The study demonstrates the feasibility of recovering high-quality GNDT from thermophilic archaeal-mediated bioleaching reactors. The recovery of these lipids at relatively low cost, as a by-product from bioleaching reactors used in the metals processing industry, has important implications for future tetraether lipid availability and costs.