A new furoquinoline alkaloid with antifungal activity from the leaves of Ruta chalepensis L.

Bioassay-guided separation with an eye toward antifungal activity led to the isolation of the new alkaloid 5-(1̀,1̀-dimethylallyl)-8-hydroxyfuro[2-3-b] quinoline (1) and the known biscoumarin daphnoretin (2) as the active constituents of the chloroform extract obtained from the leaves of Ruta chalepensis. The structures of the metabolites were elucidated on the basis of their spectral characteristics (NMR, UV, and MS) and were compared with the literature. The antifungal activity of the isolated compounds was evaluated against the phytopathogenic fungi Rhizoctonia solani, Sclerotium rolfsii, and Fusarium solani, which cause root-rot and wilt diseases in several economically important food crops such as potato, sugar beet, and tomato.