Chemical Profiling and Cheminformatic Insights into Piper Essential Oils as Sustainable Antimicrobial Agents Against Pathogens of Cocoa Crops

TL;DR

This study explores the chemical makeup and antifungal properties of essential oils from three Piper species against cocoa crop pathogens, offering insights into their potential as sustainable fungicides.

Contribution

The study provides a chemoinformatic analysis of Piper essential oils, revealing molecular mechanisms and structural features that drive their antifungal activity.

Findings

The essential oils showed significant mycelial inhibition comparable to commercial fungicides.

The oils have a lipophilic profile and low polarity, aiding fungal membrane penetration.

Structural analysis identified conserved scaffolds and synergistic modes of action.

Abstract

This study evaluates the chemical profile and antifungal efficacy of essential oils from Piper glabratum, Piper friedrichsthalii, and Piper cumanense against the cocoa pathogens Moniliophthora roreri and Phytophthora palmivora. Microwave-assisted hydrodistillation followed by GC-MS analysis identified 80 constituents, predominantly monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes, which exhibited significant mycelial inhibition comparable to commercial fungicides. Beyond basic characterization, a comprehensive chemoinformatic analysis was conducted to elucidate the molecular mechanisms driving this bioactivity. The computed physicochemical landscape reveals a dominant lipophilic profile (average LogP 3.4) and low polarity (TPSA 11.5 Å2), characteristics essential for effective fungal membrane penetration. Structural mining identified conserved benzene and cyclohexene scaffolds alongside specific 1,3-benzodioxole moieties, while Maximum Common Substructure (MCS) analysis uncovered high similarity clusters among phenylpropanoids and sesquiterpenes. These findings suggest a synergistic mode of action where conserved structural backbones and interchangeable diastereomers facilitate membrane destabilization and ion leakage. Consequently, the integrative chemoinformatic profiling elucidates the molecular basis of this efficacy, positioning these Piper essential oils not merely as empirical alternatives, but as sources of rationally defined synergistic scaffolds for next-generation sustainable fungicides.

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