Biotransformation of sophoricoside in Fructus sophorae by the fungus Schizophyllum commune.

Abstract Biotransformation of sophoricoside in Fructus sophorae was performed with Schizophyllum commune . Sophoricoside was firstly metabolized to 4′,5,7-trihydroxyisoflavone (2), and then to 4′,7-dihydroxy-5-methoxyisoflavone (3) and 5,7-dihydroxy-4′-methoxyisoflavone (4) as determined by NMR and MS analyzes. The content of compound (2) was increased by more than 30-fold, and compound (3) is a new product that showed good cytotoxic activity with an IC 50 of 12.1 nmol/ml against MCF-7 cells.