Nematicidal Constituents from the Essential Oil ofChenopodium AmbrosioidesAerial Parts

Abstract

Essential oil of Chinese medicinal herb,Chenopodium ambrosioidesaerial parts was found to possess nematicidal activity against the root-knot nematodes,Meloidogyne incognita. The essential oil ofC. ambrosioideswas obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A total of 27 components of the essential oil were identified. The principal compounds inC. ambrosioidesessential oil were (Z)-ascaridole (27.27%),ρ-cymene (19.05%), isoascaridole (14.75%),α-pinene (6.33%) andα-terpinene (5.12%). Bioactivity-guided chromatographic separation of the essential oil on repeated silica gel columns led to isolate three volatile components ((Z)-ascaridole,ρ-cymene and isoascaridole) from the essential oil. The essential oil and (Z)-ascaridole exhibited strong nematicidal activity againstM. incognitawith LC50values of 49.55 μg/mL and 32.79 μg/mL, respectively.ρ-Cymene and isoascaridole also possessed nematicidal activity againstM. incognitawith LC50values of 435.89 μg/mL and 1323.51 μg/mL, respectively but weaker than the crude essential oil.