Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Mosquito and Fly Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #341224

Research Project: Biting Arthropod Surveillance and Control

Location: Mosquito and Fly Research

Title: Chemical composition and mosquitocidal activity of n-Hexane and methanol extracts from Euphorbia anacampseros var. tmolea: an endemic species of Turkey, against Aedes aegypti

Author
item DEMIRAY, HATICE - Ege University
item Tabanca, Nurhayat
item GOGER, FAITH - Anadolu Universtiy
item ESTEP, ALDEN - Navy Entomology Center Of Excellence, Cmave Detachment
item Becnel, James
item DEMIRCI, BETUL - Anadolu Universtiy

Submitted to: Asian Journal of Chemistry
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/22/2017
Publication Date: 9/29/2017
Citation: Demiray, H., Tabanca, N., Goger, F., Estep, A.S., Becnel, J.J., Demirci, B. 2017. Chemical composition and mosquitocidal activity of n-Hexane and methanol extracts from Euphorbia anacampseros var. tmolea: an endemic species of Turkey, against Aedes aegypti. Asian Journal of Chemistry. 29(11):2488-2492. https://doi.org/10.14233/ajchem.2017.20813.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14233/ajchem.2017.20813

Interpretive Summary: Plants are a rich source of new pharmaceutical compounds including new agents for pest control. Mosquitoes have become highly resistant to the most commonly used pesticides and there is a pressing need for compounds with alternative modes of action. Extracts from a common perennial herb found in Turkey were isolated and screened against Aedes aegypti mosquito larvae and adults to determine if they contain compounds with control potential. The extracts were determined to cause mortality in larval and adult mosquitoes indicating that isolation of the active compounds in the extracts could result in new lead compounds for mosquito control.

Technical Abstract: New and safe mosquito control agents are necessary due to increasing resistance to synthetic insecticides and environmental change. The mosquito larvicidal and adulticidal activity and chemical composition of Euphorbia anacampseros var. tmolea extracts are investigated in this article for the first time. Volatile composition of the n-hexane and methanol extracts from E. anacampseros var. tmolea was analyzed by headspace-solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Chemical characterization of the MeOH extract was determined by LC-ESI-MS/MS. Both extracts were bioassayed against 1st instar larvae and adult female Ae. aegypti. The main components identified from the E. anacampseros var. tmolea n-hexane fraction were 1,8-cineole (27.5%), p-cymene (25%), '-terpinene (12.8%), limonene (9.9%). Methyl hexanoate (18.8%), methyl nonanoate (13.3%), dimethyl succinate (6.5%), methyl octanoate (6%) and methyl phenylacetate (5.3%) were identified from the MeOH fraction. The n-hexane extract showed 100% mortality at 0.1 'g/'L against 1st instar larvae of Ae. aegypti and the MeOH extract exhibited 83.3% mortality at 5 'g/mosquito against adult female Ae. aegypti. The bioassay-guided study demonstrates that n-hexane and methanol extracts of E. anacampseros var. tmolea contain compounds with natural mosquito larvicidal and adulticidal activity.