Antifungal activity of 4-methyl-6-alkyl-2H-pyran-2-ones

A number of 4-methyl-6-alkyl-alpha-pyrones were synthesized and characterized on the basis of 1H NMR and mass spectroscopy. These compounds were tested in vitro against pathogenic fungi, namely, Sclerotium rolfsii Saccardo, Rhizoctonia bataticola (Taub.) Butler, Pythium aphanidermatum (Edson) Fitz., Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi), Pythium debaryanum (Hesse), and Rhizoctonia solani Nees. Lower homologues were less effective, whereas compounds such as 4-methyl-6-butyl-alpha-pyrone, 4-methyl-6-pentyl-alpha-pyrone, 4-methyl-6-hexyl-alpha-pyrone, and 4-methyl-6-heptyl-alpha-pyrone were found effective against all of the test fungi. They inhibited mycelial growth by approximately 50% (ED50) at 15-50 microg/mL. 4-Methyl-6-hexyl-alpha-pyrone, which was found most effective, was tested against S. rolfsii in a greenhouse at 1, 5, and 10% concentrations. The 10% aqueous emulsion of 4-methyl-6-hexyl-alpha-pyrone suppressed disease development in tomato by 90-93% as compared with the untreated infested soil in the greenhouse after 35 days of treatment.