Using plant-based allelopathic compounds might be a potent substitute to help mitigate the effects of synthetic herbicides. Annona reticulata L. is often planted for its fruit in residential gardens. This plant is well-documented for its diverse ethnomedicinal uses. However, there is no information in the literature on the allelopathic potential of A. reticulata leaves. Therefore, the allelopathic potential and relevant allelopathic compounds of A. reticulata leaves were investigated in this study. The bioassays were carried out using a completely randomized experimental layout (CRD), and the resulting data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA at p ≤ 0.05. Aqueous methanol extracts of A. reticulata leaves significantly inhibited the growth of three dicots and three monocots (Lepidium sativum L., Medicago sativa L., Lactuca sativa L., Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) P. Beauv., Lolium multiflorum Lam., and Phleum pratense L., respectively). The level of growth inhibition was proportional to the A. reticulata extract concentration. Three compounds were purified through different chromatographic steps, and their structures were determined using spectroscopy and identified as loliolide, 5-hydroxy-3,4-dimethyl-5-pentylfuran-2(5H)-one, and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylethanol. The 5-hydroxy-3,4-dimethyl-5-pentylfuran-2(5H)-one had the greatest effect on suppressing cress root growth, while loliolide had the greatest effect on suppressing timothy shoot growth. The values for 50% seedling growth suppression showed that the compound with the maximum inhibitory activity was loliolide, followed by 5-hydroxy-3,4-dimethyl-5-pentylfuran-2(5H)-one and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylethanol. Therefore, this result suggests that the three compounds might be responsible for the allelopathic effects of A. reticulata leaf extracts, and these compounds have the potential to be used to develop effective bioherbicides.

Metasequoia glyptostroboides Hu et W.C. Cheng, known as a living fossil species, is planted in parks, gardens, and streets in many temperate regions worldwide. Adequate branch pruning is necessary to grow the plants in these locations, and pruning generates a large amount of waste. In this study, allelopathic activity of pruned-branch waste was investigated to search for beneficial applications of the waste. The leaves of M. glyptostroboides obtained from pruned branches were extracted, and the extracts showed growth-inhibitory activity on four weed species, namely, Vulpia myuros, Lolium multiflorum, Echinochloa crus-galli, and Phleum pretense. The inhibition was extract-concentration dependent. The roots of P. pretense were the most sensitive, and the coleoptiles of E. crus-galli were the least sensitive to the extracts among all roots and coleoptiles of these weed species. Two allelopathic substances in the extracts were isolated and identified as umbelliferone and (+)-rhododendrol. Both compounds showed inhibitory activity on the growth of V. myuros, although the inhibitory activity of (+)-rhododendrol was much greater than that of umbelliferone. The leaves may also contain some other allelopathic substances. These allelopathic substances, including umbelliferone and (+)-rhododendrol, may work as growth-inhibitory substances of leaf extracts. Therefore, the leaves of M. glyptostroboides obtained from pruned branches are allelopathic and potentially useful for weed control in certain agricultural settings such as foliar spray and soil additive, to decrease synthetic herbicide application in crop production pursuant to developing ecofriendly agriculture.

Trewia nudiflora Linn. is a woody plant of the Euphorbiaceae family. It is well known for its use as a folk remedy, but its potential for phytotoxicity has not been explored. Therefore, this study investigated the allelopathic potential and the allelopathic substances in T. nudiflora leaves. The aqueous methanol extract of T. nudiflora was found to have a toxic effect on the plants used in the experiment. The shoot and root development of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) and foxtail fescue (Vulpia myuros L.) were significantly (p ≤ 0.05) reduced by the T. nudiflora extracts. The growth inhibition by the T. nudiflora extracts was proportional to the extract concentration and varied with the test plant species. The chromatographic separation of the extracts resulted in the isolation of two substances, identified as loliolide and 6,7,8-trimethoxycoumarin based on their respective spectral analyses. Both substances significantly inhibited lettuce growth at a concentration of 0.01 mM. To inhibit 50% of the growth of the lettuce, the required concentration of loliolide was 0.043 to 0.128 mM, while that of 6,7,8-trimethoxycoumarin was 0.028 to 0.032 mM. Comparing these values, the lettuce growth was more sensitive to 6,7,8-trimethoxycoumarin than loliolide, suggesting that 6,7,8-trimethoxycoumarin was more effective than loliolide. Therefore, the inhibition of the growth of the lettuce and foxtail fescue suggests that loliolide and 6,7,8-trimethoxycoumarin are responsible for the phytotoxicity of the T. nudiflora leaf extracts. Thus, the growth-inhibitory effectiveness of the T. nudiflora extracts and the identified loliolide and 6,7,8-trimethoxycoumarin may be used to develop bioherbicides that restrict the growth of weeds.

The linear lipopeptides okeaniamide A (1) and okeaniamide B (2) were isolated from an Okeania sp. marine cyanobacterium collected in Okinawa. The structures of these compounds were established by spectroscopic analyses, and the absolute configurations were elucidated based on a combination of chemical degradations, Marfey's analysis, and derivatization reactions. Okeaniamide A (1) and okeaniamide B (2) dose-dependently promoted the differentiation of mouse 3T3-L1 preadipocytes in the presence of insulin.

Trewia nudiflora Linn. is a valuable forest resource due to its economic, ethnomedicinal, and ecological properties; however, its allelopathic potential is undocumented. Therefore, this research was designed to investigate the allelopathic impacts of T. nudiflora leaf extracts on alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) and barnyard grass (Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) P. Beauv.) growth, as well as to isolate and to identify the active allelopathic substances responsible for these effects. A bioassay experiment with eight different treatments (0.1, 0.3, 1, 3, 10, 30, 100, and 300 mg dry weight (DW) equivalents of T. nudiflora extracts in mL−1) was carried out. The results showed that the growth of both plants decreased with increasing contents of T. nudiflora extracts, with the effect depending on the plant species and reaching its peak at a concentration of a 300 mg DW equivalent of T. nudiflora extract in mL−1. Active substances were isolated and identified using an HPLC system, which revealed the presences of methyl gallate and pinoresinol in aqueous methanol extracts of T. nudiflora. The shoot and root lengths of the alfalfa and the barnyard grass decreased significantly when they were treated with the methyl gallate and the pinoresinol. The allelopathic inhibition increased with increasing compound concentrations, with the root growth being more sensitive to the pinoresinol than to the methyl gallate, and it was significantly higher at the concentration of 10 mM. These results indicated that the T. nudiflora leaf extracts limited the growth of the treated plants, and the methyl gallate and pinoresinol in the extracts may have caused the inhibition of the T. nudiflora extracts. Thus, the leaf extracts of T. nudiflora and the substances methyl gallate and pinoresinol could be incorporated into sustainable agricultural practices or used to develop bioherbicides that would promote sustainable weed management practices.