Biotransformation of (-)-α-Bisabolol by .

(-)-α-Bisabolol, a bioactive monocyclic sesquiterpene alcohol, has been used in pharmaceutical and cosmetic products with anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and skin-caring properties. However, the poor water solubility of (-)-α-bisabolol limits its pharmaceutical applications. It has been recognized that microbial transformation is a very useful approach to generate more polar metabolites. Fifteen microorganisms were screened for their ability to metabolize (-)-α-bisabolol in order to obtain its more polar derivatives, and the filamentous fungus was selected for scale-up fermentation. Seven new and four known metabolites were obtained from biotransformation of (-)-α-bisabolol (), and all the metabolites exhibited higher aqueous solubility than that of the parent compound . The structures of newly formed metabolites were established as (1,5,7)- and (1,5,7)-5-hydroxy-α-bisabolol ( and ), (1,5,7,10)-5-hydroxybisabolol oxide B (), (1,7,10)-1-hydroxybisabolol oxide B (), 12-hydroxy-α-bisabolol (), (1,3,4,7)- and (1,3,4,7)-3,4-dihydroxy-α-bisabolol ( and ) on the basis of spectroscopic analyses. These compounds could also be used as reference standards for the detection and identification of the metabolic products of in the mammalian system.