Production of new anthracycline antibiotics by microbial 4-O-methylation using a specific daunorubicin-negative mutant.

Microbial 4-O-methylation using a specific daunorubicin-blocked, nonproducing mutant provided the new anthracycline antibiotics 4-O-methylbetaclamycin T, 4-O-methylyellamycin A and 4-O-methyl-13-hydroxyoxaunomycin, from which 4-O-methyloxaunomycin and 4-O-methyl-6-deoxyoxaunomycin were then prepared by further photochemical N-demethylation. Antitumor activities in vitro and in vivo against L1210 cells were compared with those of their 4-O-demethyl derivatives. It was found that all the 4-O-methyl derivatives had a markedly reduced cytotoxicity in vitro as compared with the 4-O-demethyl compounds. However, some of them were endowed with a significantly improved antitumor activity in vivo.