Investigation of fungal biotransformation of some chalcones

In recent years, biotechnology has emerged as a leading science that is increasingly used in various fields. The biotechnological approach is used in the production of secondary metabolites for pharmaceutical use. Biotransformation is also an important technique for metabolite production. Biotransformation is a process by which organic compounds are converted from one form to another to reduce the persistence and toxicity of chemical compounds. Usually, actively growing cells are used in biotransformation studies. Microorganisms or cells are grown in their specific media and then the process is carried out by adding the substrate to be biotransformed. In this thesis, biotransformation of (E)-chalcone (1), (E)-1-phenyl-3-(p tolyl)prop-2-en-1-one (2) and (E)-3-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1-phenylprop-2-en-1-one (3) chalcones was carried out for the first time with the mold Aspergillus glaucus. Incubation of (E)-chalcone (1) with the mold A. glaucus 200914 at 25 °C for 5 days yielded the starting material and 45.2% of 1,3 diphenylpropan-1-one (4). Biotransformation of (E)-1-phenyl-3-(p-tolyl)prop-2-en-1-one (2) and (E)-3-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1-phenylprop-2-en-1-one (3) yielded the starting material and 42% of 1-phenyl-3-(p-tolyl)propan-1-one (5) and 46% of 3-(4-methoxyphenyl)-1-phenylpropan-1-one (6), respectively.