E-Journal of Chemistry (Jan 2011)

Insecticidal Components from the Essential Oil of Chinese Medicinal Herb, Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort

  • Sha Sha Chu,
  • Guo Hua Jiang,
  • Zhi Long Liu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1155/2011/163760
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 1
pp. 300 – 304

Abstract

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Essential oil of Chinese medicinal herb, Ligusticum chuanxiong dried rhizome was found to possess insecticidal activity against maize weevils, Sitophilus zeamais. The main components of L. chuanxiong essential oil were Z-3-butylidenephthalide (20.56%), Z-ligustilide (19.61%), 4-terpinenol (8.82%), 4-vinylguaiacol (6.81%) and α-selinene (6.01%). Bioactivity-guided chromatographic separation of the essential oil on repeated silica gel columns led to isolate three compounds namely 3-butylidenephthalide, Z-ligustilide and 4-vinylguaiacol. Z-liqustilide and Z-3-butylidenephthalide showed pronounced toxicity against S. zeamais (LD50= 10.23 and 15.81 μg/adult respectively) and were more toxic than 4-vinylguaiacol (LD50 = 63.75 μg/adult). The crude essential oil also possessed contact toxicity against S. zeamais (LD50 = 13.09 μg/adult).