Stereochemical course, isotope effects, and enzyme inhibitor studies of glaucine metabolism in fungi

The microbial transformation of the aporphine alkaloid glaucine by the fungi Fusarium solani (ATCC 12823) and Aspergillus flavipes (ATCC 1030) proceeds with complete substrate stereoselectivity. The fungus F. solani metabolizes only S-(+)-glaucine (1) to dehydroglaucine (3), and A. flavipes metabolizes only R-(-)-glaucine (2) to dehydroglaucine. This facile microbiological reaction is useful in the destructive resolution of racemic mixtures of glaucine, and may provide a model for producing pure enantiomers (either R or S) of other aporphines from racemic mixtures. In order to extend the reaction to other aporphines and related alkaloids, the overall stereochemical course and enzyme(s) involved in the reaction, and the substrate requirements of the enzyme were investigated. The overall stereochemical course of the transformation was examined using C-7 methyl-blocked analogs of glaucine, cis- and trans-7-methylglaucine, as substrates for the fungi. Isolation and examination of residual substrates from semi-preparative scale incubations by MS, PMR, PMR with a chiral shift reagent, OR and ORD indicated that the transformation was enantioselective in the case of A. flavipes. However, only a 10% enrichment of 6aR,7R-cis-7-methylglaucine was observed in F. solani cultures. The oxidation of glaucine can be envisioned as proceeding through one of several mechanisms, each involving a different enzyme system. Deuterium isotope, induction and enzyme inhibitor experiments helped to distinguish between the three mechanisms