Bioreduction of alpha-chloroacetophenone by whole cells of marine fungi

The asymmetric reduction of 2-chloro-1-phenylethanone (1) by seven strains of marine fungi was evaluated and afforded (S)-(-)-2-chloro-1-phenylethanol with, in the best case, an enantiomeric excess of 50% and an isolated yield of 60%. The ability of marine fungi to catalyse the reduction was directly dependent on growth in artificial sea water-based medium containing a high concentration of Cl(-) (1.2 M). When fungi were grown in the absence of artificial sea water, no reduction of 1 by whole cells was observed. The biocatalytic reduction of 1 was more efficient at neutral rather than acidic pH values and in the absence of glucose as co-substrate.Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq)[472663/2004-6]Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP)[2006/54401-2]Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP)[05/60175-2

Evaluating methods for the isolation of marine-derived fungal strains and production of bioactive secondary metabolites

In the present investigation we evaluate methods for the isolation and growth of marine-derived fungal strains in artificial media for the production of secondary metabolites. Inoculation of marine macroorganisms fragments in Petri dishes proved to be the most convenient procedure for the isolation of the largest number of strains. Among the growth media used, 3% malt extract showed the best result for strains isolation and growth, and yielded the largest number of strains from marine macroorganisms. The percentage of strains isolated using each of the growth media which yielded cytotoxic and/or antibiotic extracts was in the range of 23-35%, regardless of the growth media used. Further investigation of extracts obtained from different marine-derived fungal strains yielded several bioactive secondary metabolites, among which (E)-4-methoxy-5-(3-methoxybut-1-enyl)-6-methyl-2H-pyran-2-one is a new metabolite isolated from the Penicillium paxilli strain Ma(G)K.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq