Enzymatic Synthesis of Novel Bavachinin Glucoside by UDP‐glycosyltransferase

Bavachinin, a member of the flavanone subclass of flavonoids, has long been considered to have various biological activities. Here, the synthesis of novel bavachinin glucoside by the in vitro glycosylation reaction was successfully achieved using a UDP‐glucosyltransferase YjiC, from Bacillus licheniformis DSM‐13. The chemical structure of bavachinin glucoside was characterized based on spectroscopic techniques as bavachinin‐4′‐O‐ß‐D‐glucopyranoside ( 1 ). The water‐solubility of bavachinin‐4′‐O‐ß‐D‐glucopyranoside was found to be 9.96 μM, about 10 times higher than bavachinin. In addition, compound 1 showed moderate anti‐proliferative activity against four human tumor cell lines, with IC₅₀ values ranging from 48.5 to 61.4 μM.