Chemical Compositions and In Vitro Antiphytopathogenic Fungi Activities of the Leaf and Cones Essential Oils of Cunninghamia lanceolata From Taiwan

• Published in: Natural product communications 2020-08, Vol.15 (8)
• Main Authors: Hsu, Kuang-Ping, Su, Yu-Chang, Ho, Chen-Lung
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1934-578X; 1555-9475
• DOI: 10.1177/1934578X20936971

In this study, antiphytopathogenic fungi activities of the leaf and cones essential oils and its constituents from Cunninghamia lanceolata were evaluated in vitro against 6 plant pathogenic fungi. The main compounds responsible for the antiphytopathogenic fungi activities were isolated and identified. The essential oil from the fresh leaves and cones of C. lanceolata was isolated using hydrodistillation in a Clevenger-type apparatus, and characterized by GC-FID and GC-MS, respectively. The leaf oil consisted primarily of ferruginol (10%), τ-cadinol (8.2%), and α-cadinol (6.6%); the cones oil’s main constituents were abietadiene (42.5%), abietatriene (13.1%), and α-pinene (9.6%). Comparing the antiphytopathogenic fungi activities of the oils suggested that leaf oil was the most effective one. Further fractionation of the leaf oil produced ferruginol, τ-cadinol, and α-cadinol. The 3 compounds exhibited very strong antiphytopathogenic fungi activities. For the antiphytopathogenic fungi activities of the leaf oil, the active source compounds were determined to be ferruginol, τ-cadinol, and α-cadinol.