Novel biotransformation processes of artemisinic acid to their hydroxylated derivatives 3β-hydroxyartemisinic acid and 3β, 15-dihydroxyartemisinic by fungus Trichothecium roseum CIMAPN1and their biological evaluation

• The biotransformation of artemisinic acid by fungus Trichothecium roseum.
• Two hydroxylated products were obtained.
• Products characterized-3β-hydroxyartemisinic acid, 3β,15-dihydroxyartemisinic acid.

The biotransformation of artemisinic acid (1) by endophytic fungus Trichothecium roseum CIMAPN1 is reported here for the first time. The major biotransformed products appeared as a grayish color spot on thin-layer chromatography (TLC) with transparent crystal-like texture. Based on their infrared (IR) and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra, the products were characterized as a 3β-hydroxyartemisinic acid (2) and 3β, 15-dihydroxyartemisinic acid (3) and were obtained in 51.1% and 37.3% yields, respectively. The highest conversion efficiencies were obtained respectively when 2-day-old cultures of T. roseum were fed with 20 mg of compound 1 in 50 ml of medium per culture and the mycelia were harvested after 14 days of incubation. Metabolite 3 is a new compound and metabolite 2 is reported here for the first time from artemisinic acid. Compound 3 was acetylated to the product diacetate derivative 4. All these compounds were evaluated for their antimicrobial and in vitro antioxidant activities. Further, for pharmaceutical utility these compounds were analyzed in vivo using well established animal model Caenorhabditis elegans for antioxidant/reactive oxygen species scavenging activity. The results clearly showed that the novel derivatives performed well in comparison to the parent compound both in-vitro and in-vivo studies. The presence of hydroxyl groups in metabolites 2 and 3 could make them interesting synthones for further modification into new clinically potent molecules. Thus, the study suggested a new aisle towards better drug development through the utilization of micro engineers.

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