MICROBIOLOGICAL PROCESS FOR THE PREPARATION OF ANTHRACYCLINE DERIVATIVES

of the disclosure: The present application relates to a microbiological process for the preparation of compounds of the formula I I in which R denotes hydrogen or hydroxyl and R1 and R2 are identical or different and represent sugar combinations of the following composition: - Roa-dF-CinA - Roa-dF-Acu - Roa-dF=CinB - Roa-Rod-CinA or - Roa-Rod-Acu or R2 has the abovementioned meanings and R1 represents sugar combinations of the following composition: - Roa-dF-Rod - Roa-dF-CinB - Roa-dF-Acu - Roa-Rod-Acu - Roa-dF-CinA - Roa-Rod-Rod or - Roa-Rod-CinA in which Roa denotes rhodosamine; dF denotes deoxyfucose; Rod denotes rhodinose; Acu denotes aculose; CinA denotes cinerulose A and CinB denotes cinerulose B, and dF = CinB means that the two sugar units deoxyfucose and cinerulose B are linked by an extra ether bridge, in addition to the usual glycosidic bond, which comprises reacting a compound of the formula II II in which R denotes hydrogen or hydroxyl and R3 and R4 are identical or different and represent sugar combinations of the following composition: -Roa-dF-Rod -Roa-Rod-Rod -Roa-dF-CinA or -Roa-Rod-CinA or only R3 or only R4 has the meanings given and the other substituent in each case denotes -Roa-dF-Rod -Roa-dF=CinB -Roa-dF-Acu -Roa-Rod-Acu -Roa-dF-CinA -Roa-Rod-Rod or -Roa-Rod-CinA with a specific oxidoreductase, isolating the resulting compound from the reaction medium by extraction in a manner which is known per se and purifying the product.