Microbial transformation of quercetin and its prenylated derivatives.

The microbial transformation studies of 7-O-prenylquercetin (1), 4'-O-prenylquercetin (2) and quercetin (3) were investigated with 20 different microbial strains to discover new metabolites. It was revealed that the fungus Mucor hiemalis was the most appropriate micro-organism which was capable of transforming these flavonoids. Structures of the three new (4-6) and one known (7) metabolites were elucidated as 7-O-prenylquercetin 3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (4), 4'-O-prenylquercetin 3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (5), 4'-O-prenylquercetin 3'-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (6) and quercetin 5-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (7) by the spectroscopic methods.