Microbial Transformation of Galangin Derivatives and Cytotoxicity Evaluation of Their Metabolites

Abstract

Galangin (1), 3-O-methylgalangin (2), and galangin flavanone (3), the major bioactive flavonoids isolated from Alpinia officinarum, were biotransformed into one novel and four known metabolites (4–8) by application of the fungal strains Mucor hiemalis and Absidia coerulea as biocatalysts. Their structures were characterized by extensive spectroscopic analyses including one- and two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Compounds 1–7 were evaluated for their cytotoxic activities against cancer cell lines using the MTT assay. The new compound 3-O-methylgalangin-7-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (6) exhibited the most potent cytotoxic activity against MCF-7, A375P, B16F10, B16F1, and A549 cancer cell lines with the IC50 values at 3.55–6.23 μM.