Nematicidal Cardenolides from Nerium indicum Mill .

Three nematicidal cardenolides were obtained from the AcOEt extract of Nerium indicum Mill. by bioassay‐guided fractionation. They include a new compound, 3 β ‐ O ‐( β ‐ D ‐diginosyl)‐14,15 α ‐dihydroxy‐5 α ‐card‐20(22)‐enolide ( 1 ), and two known compounds, uzarigenin ( 2 ) and cardenolide N‐1 ( 3 ). The median lethal concentrations ( LC 50 ) of compounds 1 – 3 against the nematodes Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, Panagrellus redivivus , and Caenorhabditis elegans at 72 h were 103.3, 49.0, and 45.4 mg l −1 , 257.0, 62.7, and 177.8 mg l −1 , and 242.9, 29.1, and 41.7 mg l −1 , respectively. This is the first report about the nematicidal activity of cardenolides.