Ten-membered lactones (nonenolides) demonstrate phytotoxic, antimicrobial, and fungicidal activity promising for the development of natural product-derived pesticides. The fungus Stagonospora cirsii is able to produce phytotoxic stagonolides A (1), J (2), K (3) and herbarumin I (4) with high yield. The aim of this study was to create a set of structurally related nonenolides and to reveal the structural features that affect their biological activity. Stagonolide A (1) and C-7 oxidized stagonolide K (11) showed the highest phytotoxicity in leaf puncture assay and agar seedlings assay. The oxidation of C-7 hydroxyl group (as in 1, acetylstagonolide A (10) and (11) led to the manifestation of toxicity to microalgae, Bacillus subtilis and Sf9 cells regardless of the configuration of C-9 propyl chains (R in 1 and 10, S in 11). C-7 non-oxidized nonenolides displayed none or little non-target activity. Notably, 7S compounds were more phytotoxic than their 7R analogues. Due to the high inhibitory activity against seedling growth and the lack of side toxicity, mono- and bis(acetyl)- derivatives of herbarumin I were shown to be potent for the development of pre-emergent herbicides. The identified structural features can be used for the rational design of new herbicides.
Keywords: herbarumin; natural product-derived herbicide; nonenolide; phytotoxicity bioassay; stagonolide.