Insecticidal, cytotoxic and anti-phytopathogenic fungal activities of chemical constituents from the aerial parts of Ferula sinkiangensis

Abstract

A new rare monoterpene coumarin (1) and its two known analogues (2–3), together with two sesquiterpenes (6–7) and ferulic acid (8) were isolated from the aerial parts of Ferula sinkiangensis. The structure of new compound was established on the basis of 1D and 2D NMR data and HRESIMS data interpretation. Insecticidal, cytotoxic and anti-phytopathogenic fungal activities of isolated compounds were evaluated against third-instar larvae of Spodoptera exigua and its cell line, and three plant pathogenic fungi respectively. Compounds 1–3 and 6–7 were found to be more effective contact toxicity to S. exigua with the corrected mortality values of 38.89%-58.89% at 10 μg/larva doses for 24 h. Further studies showed that compounds 3 and 6 exhibited cell growth inhibitory activity against S. exigua cell line with the EC50 values of 22.78 and 14.64 µM for 72 h. In addition, compound 6 exhibited potent antifungal activity with MICs = 16–32 µg/mL.