Structure-plant phytotoxic activity relationship of 7,7'-epoxylignanes, (+)- and (-)-verrucosin: simplification on the aromatic ring substituents.

ABSTRACT

The synthesized 7-aryl derivatives of (7R,7'S,8S,8'S)-(+)-verrucosin were applied to growth inhibitory activity test against ryegrass at 1mM. 7-(3-Ethoxy-4-hydroxyphenyl) derivative 12 and 7-(2-hydroxyphenyl) derivative 4 showed comparable activity to those of (+)-verrucosin against the root (-95%) and the shoot (-60%), respectively. The growth inhibitory activity test against lettuce using synthesized 7-aryl derivatives of (7S,7'R,8R,8'R)-(-)-verrucosin at 1mM showed that the activities of 7-(3-hydroxyphenyl) derivative 20 and 7-(3-ethoxy-4-hydroxyphenyl) derivative 28 are similar to that of (-)-verrucosin against the root (-95%). Against the shoot, 7-(3-hydroxyphenyl) derivative 20 showed higher activity (-80%) than that of (-)-verrucosin (-60%). As the next step, (7S,7'R,8R,8'R)-7-(3-hydroxyphenyl)-7'-aryl-(-)-verrucosin derivatives, in which the most effective 3-hydroxyphenyl group is employed as 7-aromatic ring, were synthesized for the assay against lettuce. In this experiment, 7'-(2-hydroxyphenyl) derivative 37 and 7'-(3-hydroxyphenyl) derivative 38 showed similar activity to that of derivative 20. The effect of 7- and 7'-aryl structures of 7,7'-epoxylignanes on the plant growth inhibitory activity was clarified. The 7- and 7'-aryl structures were simplified to show comparable activity to or higher activity than that of (-)-verrucosin. The plant growth inhibitory activity of a nutmeg component, (+)-fragransin C3b, was estimated as -80% inhibition at 1mM against ryegrass roots.