Isolation of secondary metabolites from Stenochlaena palustris stems and structure-activity relationships of 20-hydroxyecdysone derivatives on antitermite activity

Abstract

AbstractStenochlaena palustrisis an edible fern, belonging to the Blechnaceae family and is called kelakai in South Kalimantan, Indonesia. The effects of fractions ofS. palustrisstems and isolated constituents on termite mortality and paper disc consumption byCoptotermes curvignathushave been studied. Treatment of the ethyl acetate (EtOAc) fraction on paper discs greatly induced death ofC. curvignathuswithin 6 days. Our phytochemical investigation ofS. palustrisstems led to the isolation of major constituents and 20-hydroxyecdysone exerted the highest termiticidal activity, followed by stenopalustroside A and ajugasterone C. Moreover, the structure-activity relationships (SAR) of synthetic derivatives from 20-hydroxyecdysone and ajugasterone C suggested that a 2,3-diol has considerable effect on their antitermite properties againstC. curvignathus.