Potential Implications of Vouacapan Compounds for Insecticidal Activity: An In Silico Study

From the fruits and seeds of the species of Pterodon, it is possible to obtain two main products: essential oil and oleoresin. In oleoresin, numerous vouacapan compounds have been demonstrated to have biological potential, including insecticidal activity.

In silico studies were performed to identify potential candidates for natural insecticides among the vouacapans present in the genus Pterodon.

Molecular docking and molecular dynamics studies were performed to analyze the interaction of vouacapan compounds with acetylcholinesterase of Drosophila melanogaster. Pharmacokinetic parameters regarding physicochemical properties, plasma protein binding, and activity in the central nervous system were evaluated. The toxicological properties of the selected molecules were predicted using malathion as the reference compound.

6α,7β-dimethoxivouacapan-17-ene (15) showed a high number of interactions and scores in molecular docking studies. These results suggested that this compound exhibits an inhibitory activity of the enzyme acetylcholinesterase. This compound showed the best results regarding physicochemical properties, besides presenting low cutaneous permeability values, suggesting null absorption. Molecular dynamics studies demonstrated few conformational changes in the structure of the complex formed by compound 4 and acetylcholinesterase enzyme throughout the simulation time.

It was determined that compound 4 (vouacapan 6α,7β,17β,19-tetraol) could be an excellent candidate for usage as a natural insecticide.