Studies evaluated the effects of hexanic extracts from the fruits and flowers of
Clusia fluminensis
and the main component of the flower extract, a purified benzophenone (clusianone), against
Aedes aegypti
. The treatment of larvae with the crude fruit or flower extracts from
C. fluminensis did not affect the survival of
Ae. aegypti (50 mg/L), however, the flower extracts significantly delayed development of
Ae. aegypti. In contrast, the clusianone (50 mg/L) isolate from the flower extract, representing 54.85% of this sample composition, showed a highly significant inhibition of survival, killing 93.3% of the larvae and completely blocking development of
Ae. aegypti. The results showed, for the first time, high activity of clusianone against
Ae. aegypti that both killed and inhibited mosquito development. Therefore, clusianone has potential for development as a biopesticide for controlling insect vectors of tropical diseases. Future work will elucidate the mode of action of clusianone isolated from
C. fluminensis.
