Studies on the Phytochemical Profile of var. (L.) Alef. Essential Oil, Its Larvicidal Activity and In Silico Interaction with Acetylcholinesterase against (Diptera: Culicidae).

L. (Diptera: Culicidae) is an important transmitter of diseases in tropical countries and controlling the larvae of this mosquito helps to reduce cases of diseases such as dengue, zika and chikungunya. Thus, the present study aimed to evaluate the larvicidal potential of the essential oil (EO) of var. (L.) Alef. The EO was extracted by stem distillation and the chemical composition was characterized by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC/MS and GC-FID). The larvicidal activity of EO was evaluated against third instar following World Health Organization (WHO) standard protocol and the interaction of the major compounds with the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) was evaluated by molecular docking. The predominant class was oxygenated monoterpenes with a concentration of 81.69% and the major compounds were limonene (9.5%), 1,8-cineole (14.23%), linalool (24.51%) and methyl chavicol (37.41%). The var. EO showed unprecedented activity against third instar larvae at a dose-dependent relationship with LC of 69.91 (µg/mL) and LC of 200.62 (µg/mL), and the major compounds were able to interact with AChE in the Molecular Docking assay, indicating an ecological alternative for mosquito larvae control.