New cytotoxic bufadienolides from the biotransformation of resibufogenin by Mucor polymorphosporus

Resibufogenin is a cytotoxic steroid isolated from the Chinese drug ChanSu. The biotransformation of resibufogenin by Mucor polymorphosporus afforded 22 products, and 15 of them were new. The transformation reactions involved hydroxylations at C-1β, C-5, C-7α, C-7β, C-12α, C-12β and C-16α, as well as epimerization or dehydrogenation of 3-OH. Hydroxylations at C-12α, C-12β and C-16α were the major reactions, each giving products in >5% yields, whereas the other products were obtained in fairly low yields. Some of the products showed decreased but still potent cytotoxicities. This investigation provided a useful approach to prepare new bufadienolides and most of them were difficult to obtain by chemical means.