Abstract: A method for the oxidation of hydrocarbons to monocarboxylic acids and thence to dicarboxylic acids by the aerobic resting cell reaction of the organism Debaryomyces phaffii ATCC 20499.

Abstract: Long-chain alpha-hydroxyalkanoic acids are prepared from alpha olefins having 10 to 18 carbon atoms by first adapting a microorganism of the Candida lipolytica species to assimilate the alpha olefins in such a way that the so-adapted microorganism produces as the major metabolite of said assimilation alpha-hydroxyalkanoic acids having the same number of carbon atoms as the alpha olefins when the adapted microorganism is cultivated in an aqueous nutrient medium containing the alpha olefins. The adaptation procedure comprises first cultivating the Candida lipolytica species in an aqueous nutrient medium containing kerosene boiling range hydrocarbons and then repetitively cultivating in a series of separate successive steps in an aqueous nutrient medium containing an alpha olefin the successive microorganism cultures obtained in the preceding cultivation steps beginning with the culture obtained using the kerosene hydrocarbons as the carbon source.