Bioactivity of two major constituents isolated from the essential oil of Artemisia judaica L

• Published in: Bioresource technology Vol. 99; no. 13; pp. 5947 - 5950
• Main Authors: Abdelgaleil, Samir A.M., Abbassy, Moustafa A., Belal, Abdel-Salam H., Abdel Rasoul, Mona A.A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2008; [New York, NY]: Elsevier Ltd; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Animals; Antifeedant activity; Antifungal Agents - isolation & purification; Antifungal Agents - pharmacology; Artemisia; Artemisia - chemistry; Artemisia judaica; Biological and medical sciences; Chromatography; Egypt; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Fungi - drug effects; Fungi - growth & development; Insecticidal activity; Insecticides - isolation & purification; Insecticides - toxicity; Larva - drug effects; Oils, Volatile - chemistry; Oils, Volatile - isolation & purification; Oils, Volatile - toxicity; Piperitone; Plant Extracts - chemistry; Plant Extracts - isolation & purification; Plant Extracts - toxicity; Silica Gel; Silicon Dioxide; Spodoptera - drug effects; Spodoptera - growth & development; Spodoptera littoralis; trans-Ethyl cinnamate; Egypt; trans-Ethyl cinnamate; Piperitone; Insecticidal activity; Artemisia judaica; Antifeedant activity; Insecticide; Pesticides; Compositae; Biological activity; Artemisia; Plant; Dicotyledones; Cinnamic acid derivatives; Angiospermae; Antifeedant; Spermatophyta; Essential oil
• ISSN: 0960-8524; 1873-2976
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2007.10.043

The essential oil of Artemisia judaica L., grown on Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, was extracted via hydrodistillation. Chromatographic separation on repeated silica gel columns led to isolate two compounds namely piperitone and trans-ethyl cinnamate. Insecticidal, antifeedant and antifungal properties of the isolated compounds were examined. Both compounds showed pronounced insecticidal and antifeedant activity against the third instar larvae of Spodoptera littoralis (Boisd). trans-Ethyl cinnamate (LD 50 = 0.37 μg/larva) was more toxic than piperitone (LD 50 = 0.68 μg/larva). The two isolated compounds revealed antifeedant activity in a concentration dependent manner, with complete feeding inhibition at a concentration of 1000 μg/ml. When tested for antifungal activity against four plant pathogenic fungi, the isolated compounds exhibited a moderate to high activity.