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Fungal hydroxylation of (-)-α-santonin

Authors Bustos D, Pacciaroni AV, Sosa VE, Bustos DA

Received 12 May 2012

Accepted for publication 14 June 2012

Published 8 August 2012 Volume 2012:2 Pages 1—6

DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/ROC.S33832

Checked for plagiarism Yes

Review by Single anonymous peer review

Peer reviewer comments 2



Daniela A Bustos,1 Adriana V Pacciaroni,2 Virginia E Sosa,2 Daniel A Bustos1

1Basic Sciences Institute, School of Philosophy, Humanities and Arts, National University of Saint John, Saint John, 2Organic Chemistry Department, School of Chemical Sciences, National University of Cordoba, Multidisciplinary Institute of Plant Biology (CONICET-UNC), Cordoba, Argentina

Abstract: Functionalization of organic compounds using enzymes present in microorganisms is a very useful tool for organic chemists, since it is a method carried out under milder conditions than chemical ones and allows the introduction of functional groups in a nonreactive carbon in a regioselective and stereoselective way. In order to look for new compounds derived from natural products with antioxidant and cytotoxic activity, the sesquiterpene lactone (–)-α-santonin was transformed using a pure strain of Cunninghamella spp. A two-stage standard protocol with growing cells was followed, which led to 8β-hydroxy-α-santonin. The structure of the product was unequivocally elucidated by spectroscopic methods. Both the starting material and metabolite were tested in vitro for antioxidant activity using the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl method, and cytotoxic activity was tested using the Artemia salina (brine shrimp) method. In both assays, the new compound was less active than substrate and reference compounds, which means that the introduction of a hydroxyl group on carbon-8 of (–)-α-santonin with β stereochemistry did not improve the tested biological activities.

Keywords: biotransformation, Cunninghamella spp., 8β-hydroxy-α-santonin, antioxidant activity, cytotoxic activity

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