Callus Induction and Cell Suspension Culture Production of Catharanthus Roseus for Biotransformation Studies of (–)- Caryophyllene Oxide

For biotransformational studies, Callus of Catharanthus roseus was produced from young shoot tip on Murashige & Skoog medium supplemented with 1.5 mg/litre 2, 4-D and 0.5 mg/litre Kin, solidified by 8 g/litre agar at 25±1°C under complete darkness. The cultures were maintained on the same medium at 25±1 °C in the dark by subculturing after every four weeks. Suspension culture of the plant was produced from induced callus on the same medium except Kin and agar. Cell suspension culture of Catharanthus roseus (Madagascar periwinkle) was employed for the first time in order to study the biotransformational capability of (–)-caryophyllene oxide (1), and four metabolites, 15-hydroxycaryophyllene oxide (2), 4β, 5α-dihydroxycaryophyll-8(13)-ene (3), 2β-hydroxycaryophyllene oxide (4), and 2-hydroxy-4,5-epoxycaryophyllan-13-ol (5) were obtained. Metabolites 4 and 5 were found to be new compounds.