Algicidal activity of thiazolidinedione derivatives against harmful algal blooming species

Thiazolidinedione (TD) derivatives exhibit algicidal activity against harmful algal blooming species such as Chattonella marina, Heterosigma akashiwo, and Cochlodinium polykrikoides, as reported previously. In this study, the efficacies and selectivities of TD derivatives were tested by analyzing the structure-activity relationships of various TD derivatives. To investigate structure-activity relationships for growth inhibition of harmful algae, we added a methylene group between the cyclohexyl ring and oxygen of 5-(3-chloro-4-hydroxybenzylidene)-TD, which decreased the inhibitory potency of compound 17. Interestingly, another addition of a methylene group significantly increased the inhibitory potency against C. polykrikoides. The addition of 1 μM compound 17 resulted in the cell rupture of harmful algae after less than 10 h incubation at 20 °C. Compound 17 was applied to both harmful and non-harmful algae and showed a drastic reduction in the efficiency of photosystem II, resulting in reduced photosynthetic oxygen evolution. Compound 17 at a 5 μM concentration destroyed all of the harmful algae, while algicidal activity against non-harmful algae did not exceed 30% of the control within the concentration range tested. In contrast, a herbicide, 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea, tested at a 5 μM concentration, exhibited 40-70% algicidal activity relative to that of the control against both harmful and non-harmful algae. Compound 17 is a promising lead compound for the development of algicides to control harmful algal blooming species.