title: Isolation of bioactive allelochemicals from sunflower (variety Suncross-42) through fractionation-guided bioassays.
abstract: Plants are rich source of biologically active allelochemicals. However, natural product discovery is not an easy task. Many problems encountered during this laborious practice can be overcome through the modification of preliminary trials. Bioassay-directed isolation of active plant compounds can increase efficiency by eliminating many of the problems encountered. This strategy avoids unnecessary compounds, concentrating on potential components and thus reducing the cost and time required. In this study, a crude aqueous extract of sunflower leaves was fractionated through high performance liquid chromatography. The isolated fractions were checked against Chenopodium album and Rumex dentatus. The fraction found active against two selected weeds was re-fractionated, and the active components were checked for their composition. Thin layer chromatography isolated a range of phenolics, whereas the presence of bioactive terpenoids was confirmed through mass spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mycology and Plant Pathology, Quaid-e-Azam Campus, University of the Punjab, Lahore 54590, Pakistan. anjum@mpp.pu.edu.pk
authors.forename: Tehmina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Anjum
authors.forename: Rukhsana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bajwa
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D027463:Chenopodium album / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D002855:Chromatography, Thin Layer; D006368:Helianthus / Q000737:chemistry*; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D010636:Phenols / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010675:Pheromones / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D031804:Rumex / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D010636:Phenols; D010675:Pheromones; D014867:Water