Biological evaluation of 2,5-dimethyl-1,4-benzoquinone biotransformation metabolite

Abstract

The substrate of this study, 2,5-dimethyl-1,4-benzoquinone (DMBQ), is one of the naturally occurring quinones which is found in insects as a defence metabolite. In the present study, DMBQ was biotransformed by using the micro-fungus Corynespora cassicola. The transformation metabolite was initially screened by TLC and GC-MS, then further characterized by NMR (13C- and 1H-NMR) spectroscopic techniques and was identified as ‘2,5-dimethyl 1,4-benzenediol’. In addition, both the substrate and metabolite was evaluated for the in vitro anticandidal, and antioxidant properties along with XTT-cytotoxicity.