Essential oil of Chinese medicinal herb, Ligusticum chuanxiong dried rhizome was found to possess insecticidal activity against maize weevils, Sitophilus zeamais. The main components of L. chuanxiong essential oil were Z ‐3‐butylidenephthalide (20.56%), Z ‐ligustilide (19.61%), 4‐terpinenol (8.82%), 4‐vinylguaiacol (6.81%) and α ‐selinene (6.01%). Bioactivity‐guided chromatographic separation of the essential oil on repeated silica gel columns led to isolate three compounds namely 3‐butylidenephthalide, Z ‐ligustilide and 4‐vinylguaiacol. Z ‐liqustilide and Z ‐3‐butylidenephthalide showed pronounced toxicity against S. zeamais (LD 50 = 10.23 and 15.81 μg/adult respectively) and were more toxic than 4‐vinylguaiacol (LD 50 = 63.75 μg/adult). The crude essential oil also possessed contact toxicity against S. zeamais (LD 50 = 13.09 μg/adult).
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Chu et al. (2010) studied this question.