title: Nimbolide B and nimbic acid B, phytotoxic substances in neem leaves with allelopathic activity.
abstract: Neem (Azadirachta indica) has been widely used as a traditional medicine and several bioactive compounds have been isolated from this species, but to date no potent allelopathic active substance has been reported. Therefore, we investigated possible allelopathic property and phytotoxic substances with allelopathic activity in neem. An aqueous methanol extract of neem leaves inhibited the growth of roots and shoots of cress, lettuce, alfalfa, timothy, crabgrass, ryegrass, barnyard grass and jungle rice. The extracts were then purified by several chromatographic runs while monitoring the inhibitory activity and two phytotoxic substances were isolated. The chemical structures of the two substances were determined by spectral data to correspond to novel compounds, nimbolide B (1) and nimbic acid B (2). Nimbolide B inhibited the growth of cress and barnyard grass at concentrations greater than 0.1‒3.0 μM. Nimbic acid B inhibited the growth of cress and barnyard grass at concentrations greater than 0.3-1.0 μM. These results suggest that nimbolide B and nimbic acid B may contribute to the allelopathic effects caused by neem leaves.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Biological Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Kagawa University, Miki, Kagawa 761-0795, Japan. hisashi@ag.kagawa-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Hisashi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kato-Noguchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Biological Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Kagawa University, Miki, Kagawa 761-0795, Japan. salamma71@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Md Abdus
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Salam
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, 3-14-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku, Yokohama 223-8522, Japan. ohno@chem.keio.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ohno
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, 3-14-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku, Yokohama 223-8522, Japan. suenaga@chem.keio.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Kiyotake
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Suenaga
mesh_terms: D031601:Azadirachta / Q000737:chemistry*; D018545:Lactuca / Q000187:drug effects; D036701:Limonins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008129:Lolium / Q000187:drug effects; D012275:Oryza / Q000187:drug effects; D031784:Phleum / Q000187:drug effects; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry*; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000187:drug effects; D018520:Plant Shoots / Q000187:drug effects; D014315:Triterpenes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D036701:Limonins; D010936:Plant Extracts; D014315:Triterpenes; C048346:nimbic acid; C042198:nimbolide