title: Effects of chirality on the antifungal potency of methylated succinimides obtained by Aspergillus fumigatus biotransformations. comparison with racemic ones.
abstract: Eighteen (3R) and (3R,4R)-N-phenyl-, N-phenylalkyl and N-arylsuccinimides were prepared with high enantioselectivity by biotransformation of maleimides with A. fumigatus. This environmentally friendly, clean and economical procedure was performed by the whole-cell fungal bioconversion methodology. Their corresponding eighteen racemic succinimides were prepared instead by synthetic methods. Both, the racemic and the chiral succinimides were tested simultaneously by the microbroth dilution method of CLSI against a panel of human opportunistic pathogenic fungi of clinical importance. Chiral succinimides showed higher antifungal activity than the corresponding racemic ones and the differences in activity were established by statistical methods. The bottlenecks for developing chiral drugs are how to obtain them through a low-cost procedure and with high enantiomeric excess. Results presented here accomplish both these objectives, opening an avenue for the development of asymmetric succinimides as new antifungal drugs for pharmaceutical use.
authors.affiliation: Pharmacognosy Area, Faculty of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, National University of Rosario, Suipacha 531, 2000-Rosario, Argentina. msortino@fbioyf.unr.edu.ar
authors.forename: Maximiliano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sortino
authors.forename: Agustina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Postigo
authors.forename: Susana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zacchino
mesh_terms: D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D001232:Aspergillus fumigatus / Q000378:metabolism*; D001711:Biotransformation; D006801:Humans; D008745:Methylation; D009181:Mycoses / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology; D013237:Stereoisomerism; D013388:Succinimides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000935:Antifungal Agents; D013388:Succinimides