Miyazawa M, Fukuyama M, Yoshio K, Kato T, Ishikawa Y
Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Kinki University, Kowakae, Higashiosaka-shi, Osaka 577-8502, Japan.
J Agric Food Chem. 1999 Dec;47(12):5108-10. doi: 10.1021/jf9903509.
In the course of screening for novel naturally occurring insecticides from Chinese crude drugs, a dichloromethane extract of Podophyllum hexandrum was found to give an insecticidal activity against larvae of Drosophila melanogaster Meigen. From the extract, an insecticidal compound was isolated by bioassay-guided fractionation. The compound was identified as podophyllotoxin (1) by comparison of its spectroscopic characteristics with literature data. In bioassays for insecticidal activity, 1 showed a LC(50) value of 0.24 micromol/mL diet against larvae of D. melanogaster and a LD(50) value of 22 microg/adult against adults. Acetylpodophyllotoxin (1A), however showed slight insecticidal activity in both assays, indicating that the 4-hydroxyl group was an important function for enhanced activity of 1.
