Biotransformations

Some of our earlier Biotransformation projects:

Talampanel is a non-competitive antagonist of AMPA receptor, and it is an investigational drug for the treatment of epilepsy and cerebrovascular ischemia.

The first step of an efficient synthesis of talampanel is the reduction of 3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl-acetone (MDA) to (S)-a-methyl-1,3-benzodioxole-5-ethanol (MBE) accomplished with Zygosaccharomyces rouxii in the presence of XAD-7 resin. The application of the moderately polar adsorbent resulted in low and non-toxic concentration of both the substrate and the product in the water phase. Z. rouxii was chosen because it tolerated higher substrate and product concentration (<6 g/l) and had a higher productivity number in comparison to the other examined yeasts.

ThePrimycin history of PRIMYCIN and its properties

With the initiation of Vályi-Nagy, the organized production of antibiotics started in Hungary. Among the izolated primycin, penicilacid, achoricins, flavofungin, desertomycin, grubilin antibiotics they were engaged with primycin the most, because both the strain and the agent were novel.

Primycin is the main component of the Ebrimicin®gel and cream. Primycin, the first hungarian antibiotic was first described by Vályi-Nagy and colleagues in a 1954 issue of Nature, then in 1956 in Pharmazie. The strain producing the agent was isolated from the intestinal tracts of the greater wax moth.

Embrimicin stood out from the first tests thanks to its superb efficiency against Gram-positive microorganisms and pathogen and apathogen Mycobacteria strains. Since then as a result of many anti-microbial studies it has been established that it has a very wide anti-microbial spectrum: at lower concentrations it has a “cid” effect on Gram-positive and Mycobacteria strains, and it also has an effect on fungi, vibrios, some algae, protozoa and macroviruses. At higher concentrations it is effective against Gram-negative bacteria, including resistant and poliresistant strains.