Microbial metabolism. Part 7 : Curcumin.

Microbial metabolism of the cancer chemopreventive agent, curcumin [(1E,6E)-1,7-bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)hepta-1,6-diene-3,5-dione] (1) with Pichia anomala (ATCC 20170) yielded four major metabolites, 5-hydroxy-1,7-bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)heptan-3-one (2), 5-hydroxy-7-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-1-(4-hydroxyphenyl)heptan-3-one (3), 1,7-bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)heptan-3,5-diol (4), 5-hydroxy-1,7-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)heptane-3-one (5) and two minor products, 1-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-7-(4-hydroxyphenyl)heptane-3,5-diol (6) and 1,7-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)heptane-3,5-diol (7). The structures of compounds 2-5 were established on the basis of spectroscopic data. Compounds 6 and 7 were assigned tentative structures.