ARS | Publication request: PHYSIOLOGICALLY ACTIVE SUBSTANCES FROM NEW SOURCES

Submitted to: Great Lakes Regional American Chemical Society Symposium
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: June 13, 2001
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: Most pharmaceuticals are obtained from plants or from microorganisms grown on carbohydrates. Production of pharmaceuticals from oily materials through biotransformation has rarely been explored. There are large annual surpluses of vegetable oils in the U.S. One of our missions is to convert these surplus vegetable oils into new physiologically active agents. We found that microorganisms oxidized unsaturated fatty acids to many types of oxygenated fatty acids: (1) monohydroxy fatty acid for specialty chemicals; (2) dihydroxy unsaturated fatty acids for surface active agents and antimicrobial agents; (3) trihydroxy unsaturated fatty acids as organic fungicides; (4) tetrahydrofuranyl fatty acids for anticancer agents; and (5) diepoxy bicyclic unsaturated fatty acids for enzyme inhibitors or physiologically active agents. These oxygenated unsaturated fatty acids are novel compounds and were produced in good yields by biotransformation of oleic acid and linoleic acid. We are currently searching for collaborators to test the physiological activities of our newest products, the diepoxy bicyclic unsaturated fatty acids.