Planta Med 2011; 77 - P_41
DOI: 10.1055/s-0031-1273570

Potent Insecticidal Secondary Metabolites Isolated from Acanthus montanus

E Amin 1, 5, MM Radwan 3, 5, SS El-Hawary 2, MM Fathy 2, R Mohammed 1, JJ Becnel 4, IA Khan 5, 6, 7
  • 1Faculty of Pharmacy, Beni Suef University, Egypt
  • 2Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Egypt
  • 3Faculty of Pharmacy, Alexandria University, Egypt
  • 4USDA, ARS, Center for Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary Entomology Gainesville, FL 32608 USA
  • 5National Center for Natural Products Research, School of Pharmacy, The University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677, USA
  • 6Department of Pharmacognosy, Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, The University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677, USA
  • 7Department of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Acanthus montanus (Nees) T. Anders. (Family: Acanthaceae) is a small shrub with sparse branches and soft stems, widespread in Africa, the Balkans, Romania, Greece and Eastern Mediterranean [1]. Documented evidence showed that the leaves of the plant possess spasmolytic, analgesic, anti-inflammatory and anti-pyretic [2, 3] activities. In our ongoing research project, aimed at identifying new natural compounds with insecticidal activity, the alcohol extract of the aerial parts of A. montanus were the most active. Phytochemical study of the aerial parts of A. montanus has resulted in isolation of nine compounds, eight of which exhibit variable degrees of insecticidal activity. β-sitosterol-3-O-β-D-glucoside 2 exhibited potent mosquitocidal activity (100% mortality) against adult Aedes aegypti at 3.1ppm concentration, followed by palmitic acid 1 (90%), linaroside 3 (80%), and acetoside 9 (70%) respectively. It is noteworthy that this is the first report of insecticidal activity of β-sitosterol-3-O-β-D-glucoside, linaroside and acetoside.

Acknowledgements: Thanks go to the Egyptian Government for the fellowship through The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.

References: [1] Okoli CO, Akah PA. (2008) BMC complementary and alternative medicine, 8: 27. [2] Adeyemi OO, Okpo SO. (2004)J Ethnopharmacol, 90: 45. [3] Asongalem EA, Foyet HS. (2004)J Ethnopharmacol, 95: 63.