Isolation of Bioactive Constituent from the Leaves of Acalypha indica L. and Evaluated in vitro Larvicidal and Molecular Docking Studies

Abstract

The process of mosquito control using synthetic substances having lot of hazardous effects to human and the environment. So, there is an urgent need to develop plant based insecticides. The ethanolic extract of medicinal plant Acalypha indica leaves was imperiled to preliminary phytochemical screening, bioactive fraction isolation, larvicidal activity and molecular docking studies. Preliminary phytochemical screening displayed the existence of steroids, flavonoids, alkaloids, sugars and saponins in ethanolic extract of Acalypha indica L. The isolated bioactive compound was confirmed by using spectroscopic methods such as GC-MS, FT-IR, NMR (1H & 13C) and elemental analyses. The spectroscopic data confirmed the isolated compound was bis(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (1). Compound 1 exerted more larvicidal activity than plant powder and its ethanolic extract with an LD50 value of 38.23 μg/mL, which was better than that of control permethrin with an LD50 value of 54.05 μg/mL. Plant powder and ethanolic extract were moderate larvicidal effect towards C. quinquefasciatus with LD50 values of >100 and 75.13 μg/mL, respectively. The molecular docking studies shows significant supporting evidence for larvicidal activity.