MICROBIAL PROCESS FOR PREPARING PRAVASTATIN

摘要

The present invention relates to a new microbial process for the preparation of the compound of formula (I) from a compound of general formula (II) where in R+ stands for an alkali metal or ammonium ion, by the submerged cultivation of the strain able to 6.beta.-hydroxylate a compound of formula (II) in aerobic fermentation and by the separation and purification of the product of formul a (I) formed in the course of the bioconversion, which comprises cultivating a strain of the genera Micromonospora able to 6.beta.-hydroxylate a compound o f the general formula (II), wherein R+ is as defined above, on a nutrient medi um containing assimilable carbon and nitrogen sources and mineral salts at 25-3 2 ~C, thereafter feeding the substrate to be transformed into the developed culture, then fermenting the substrate until the end of bioconversion, then separating the compound of formula (I) from the culture broth and, if desire d, purifying the same.