Isolation of umbelliferone as a principal allelochemical from the peruvian medicinal plant Diplostephium foliosissimum (Asteraceae)

Diplostephium foliosissimum (Asteraceae) is a peruvian medicinal plant which grows at high altitudes in the Andes mountains. In a previous screening of peruvian plant species we found high plant-inhibitory activity in the leaves of this species. Here, we isolated and quantified allelochemicals from D. foliosissimum. A crude methanol extract of leaves was fractionated, and the activity of each fraction was evaluated by bioassays using lettuce seedlings. Most of the inhibitory activity was present in the ethyl acetate fraction. Umbelliferone was isolated, –1 identified, and quantified at 0.01 g g dry weight, and was confirmed to be the principal allelochemical involved in the inhibitory activity of D. foliosissimum.