Antimicrobial activity of the heliangolide chromolaenide and related sesquiterpene lactones

Abstract

Some sesquiterpene lactones are known to exhibit
\nantimicrobial activity [1, 2]. More recently, it has been
\nnoted that the pseudoguainolide carpesiolin inhibits
\nthe growth of Xanthomonas oryzae [3]. Here, we
\nreport on the antimicrobial activity of the heliangolide
\nchromolaenide 1, isolated from Chromolaena glaberrima (DC.) King et Robinson [4] and its derivatives,
\nagainst Staphylococcus aureus.
\nThe results are summarized in Table 1. It is apparent that there is a clear dependence between antimicrobial activity and the presence of the t~-methylene-3,-
\niactone group. As already established [5-8], the
\ngrowth inhibition of microorganisms is caused by the
\nalkylation of their nucleophilic centers (R-SH) with
\nthe unsaturated lactone moiety. This observation is
\ncongruent with our results, because the only inactive
\ncompound was 3, which is the one with no unsaturated
\nlactone.