The production and Biosynthesis of Medical Agents in Tissue Culture a Study of Curcuma Longa

The biarylheptanoids are a group of natural compounds having a common structure of two aryl groups bridged by heptane chain . The only studies which have been carried out to investigate the biosynthesis of the biaryIheptanoids have been with reference to curcumin (I ). Roughly and whiting proposed two biosynthetic hypothesis ( Schemes 1 and 3 ) . In Scheme 1, the biosynthesis involves a condensation of two cinnamate units with one acetate or malonate unit , while in Scheme 3 the biosynthetic pathway involves the condensation of one cinnamate and five acetate or malonate units . The results of their studies were equivocal in the main because of the symmetrical structure of curcumin, and did not support or prove either one of the suggested schemes .For this reason we decided to investigate the biosynthesis of desmethoxycurcumin (2), as it is the most abundant asymmetric curcuminoid produced by Curcuma Ionga rhizomes.