Chiral specificity of the degradation of nicotine by Nicotiana plumbaginifolia cell suspension cultures

The kinetics of nicotine degradation in a cell suspension culture of Nicoti ana plumbagin folia has been examined, It is shown by GC and chiral HPLC th at when (R,S)-nicotine is presented, (R)-nicotine is more rapidly degraded than the natural isomer, (S)-nicotine. Conversely, (R)-nornicotine accumula tes in the culture medium to a greater extent than (S)-nornicotine, indicat ing that the latter undergoes more rapid further metabolism to unidentified products. The demethylation of the analogue of nicotine, (R,S)-1-methyl-2- phenylpyrrolidine, was found to be competitive with the demethylation of (R ,S)-nicotine. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.