title: New sources and antifungal activity of sesquiterpene lactones.
abstract: In the search for new sources of sesquiterpene lactones, six Centaurea species have been analyzed. The activity against the fungus Cunninghamella echinulata of (+)-cnicin (1) and (+)-salonitenolide (2), isolated from the Centaurea plants, as well as that of (+)-costunolide (3), (-)-dehydrocostuslactone (4), (-)-lychnopholide (5) and (-)-eremantholide C (6), has been evaluated. Compounds 3 and 4 showed noticeable EC50 values, whilst more polar lactones were inactive. These results suggest that a relatively low polarity is one of the molecular requirements for the antifungal activity of sesquiterpene lactones.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Qumica Orgnica, Instituto de Biotecnologa, Facultad de Ciencias, Campus Fuentenueva s/n, 18071 Granada, Spain. afbarre@goliat.ugr.es
authors.forename: A F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Barrero
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Oltra
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alvarez
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Raslan
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Saúde
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akssira
mesh_terms: D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D019659:Asteraceae; D020093:Cunninghamella / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D007783:Lactones / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000494:pharmacology; D010946:Plants, Medicinal; D012717:Sesquiterpenes / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D000935:Antifungal Agents; D007783:Lactones; D010936:Plant Extracts; D012717:Sesquiterpenes