Exploring Dittrichia viscosa (L.) Greuter phytochemical diversity to explain its antimicrobial, nematicidal and insecticidal activity

Dittrichia viscosa is a perennial small shrub belonging to the Compositae family (Asteraceae) widespread in the Mediterranean basin. This plant has been extensively used in traditional medicine since the Roman times as reported by the Roman Naturalist Gaius Plinius Secundus. Nowadays, many studies about chemical composition and biological activity of D. viscosa are available. Chemical analyses of plant extracts revealed the presence of several metabolites belonging to different classes of natural products such as sesquiterpenes, flavonoids and caffeic acids. In addition, the essential oil of D. viscosa is rich in volatile short chain metabolites with aldehydes, alcohols and esters functional groups, as well as long chain fatty acids esters and alkyls. Some of these compounds are known for their biological activities against a wide range of micro- and macroorganisms. Scientific evidence reported that derivates of caffeic acids and flavonoids were the compounds mainly related to inhibition of bacterial and fungal growth, whereas sesquiterpene lactones and eudesmane sesquiterpenes were most active against nematodes, mites, insects and parasitic plants. In this paper, information about the phytochemical composition and the biological activity of D. viscosa against bacteria, fungi, nematodes, mites, insect and parasitic plants have been summarized.