A novel enzymatic dehydrogenation of podophyllotoxin congeners by yeast cells

The biotransformation of aryltetralin lignans to arylnaphthalene lignans in presence of yeast is described. Podophyllotoxone, an oxidation product of podophyllotoxin on incubation with yeast from different sources produced dehydropodophyllotoxin, an important representative of arylnaphthalene lignans.