Uscharin, the most potent molluscicidal compound tested against land snails

Abstract

Calotropis procera, is a shrub with broad ovate fleshy leaves that grows wild in the Egyptian deserts. The plant was discovered to be highly toxic to the land snailsThepa pisana. The active ingredient responsible for the molluscicidal activity was isolated from its latex by solvent extraction and partitioning and was finally purified by fractional crystallization from 95% aqueous ethanol. The purity of the isolated material was monitored by TLC. Chemical identification was carried out using mass, infrared, and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic methods. The active compound was found to be uscharin, and its identity was confirmed by comparing its spectroscopic data with the literature values. The isolated compound was 128 times more toxic than methomyl to the snails tested.

Fumigant toxicity and antiacetylcholinesterase activity of Saudi Mentha longifolia and Lavandula dentata species against Callosobruchus maculatus (F.) (Coleoptera: Bruchidae)

“…Therefore, this work was carried out to examine the chemical composition of essential oils isolated from M. longifolia and L. dentata species grown in Saudi Arabia and to evaluate their fumigant toxicity and anticholinesterase activity against adult C. maculatus, to compare the composition of the two plant oils grown in other countries. This work is a continuation to our efforts to find promising, effective natural pesticides (Hussein et al, 1994(Hussein et al, , 1999Al-Rajhi et al, 2003;Hussein, 2005;Al-Sarar et al, 2012).…”

Molluscicidal and insecticidal potential of monoterpenes on the white garden snail, Theba pisana (Muller) and the cotton leafworm, Spodoptera littoralis (Boisduval)

“…The efficiency of monoterpenes was evaluated on adult snails of T. pisana as described by Hussein et al (1994) and El-Zemity and Radwan (1999) with some modifications. Stock solutions of monoterpenes and methiocarb, a standard molluscicide, were prepared in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO).…”

Toxic effect of clove oil on the survival and histology of various tissues of pestiferous land snail Achatina fulica (Bowdich, 1822)

“…Toxicity experiments were performed according to the method of Hussein et al (1994). In order to determine the LD 50 values of the test compound the animals were divided into three groups viz., control, vehicle treated group and clove oil treated group, with ten animals in each group.The clove oil treated animals were subjected to 1 ml of varying concentrations of clove oil (3%, 6%, 9%, 15%, 21% and 27%) prepared in 1% tween 80 solution (v/v).…”