Biotransformation of melaleuca alternifolia (maiden & betche) cheel essential oil and evaluation of bioactive metabolites

Tea Tree Oil (TTO) has been used more frequently as a primary active ingredient in dermatological and cosmetic formulations because of its well-known antibacterial and antifungal qualities. This oil was purchased commercially and used in 15 different fungus species' microbial biotransformation experiments. The synthesized new metabolites were demonstrated to exhibit antioxidant, antibacterial, and anticandidal effects. Fungal species such as Aspergillus terreus var. africanus, Penicillium italicum var. italicum, Fusarium culmorum, and Alternaria eureka were used to catalyze the TTO transformation with high efficiency, producing 10 different metabolites. 3 metabolites were structurally clarified in this study by the use of spectroscopic techniques. These metabolites' antibacterial and antifungal qualities were evaluated using disk diffusion, bioautography and standard liquid microdilution methods. The biotransformation process produced p-menthane-1,2,4-triol and other hydroxylated derivative metabolites, which were shown in this study to have considerably greater inhibitory effects than terpinen-4-ol and γ-terpinene, the main constituents of tea tree oil (MIC, 312 μg/mL).