Stachyonic Acid: A Dengue Virus Inhibitor from Basilicum polystachyon.
Yuen P TanSevan D HoustonNaphak ModhiranAndrei I SavchenkoGlen M BoylePaul R YoungDaniel WattersonCraig M WilliamsPublished in: Chemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) (2019)
Stachyonic acid A, arising from the first in-depth phytochemical investigation of the herb Basilicum polystachyon, was found to display potent inhibitory activity against dengue virus, with limited cytotoxicity. Andrographolide, a known dengue virus inhibitor and closely related labdane-type diterpene, is structurally more complex but displayed poor antiviral activity in the PRNT assay, and increased cytotoxicity in comparison. Furthermore, a Diels-Alder reaction with PTAD identified the active pharmacophore of stachyonic acid to be the conjugated diene.