Comparative study of selected Rosa varieties’ metabolites through UPLC-ESI-MS/MS, chemometrics and investigation of their insecticidal activity against Culex pipiens L.

The 70 % methanolic extracts of three Rosa varieties (aerial parts & flowers); Rosa banksiae var. banksiae Ait. (RBW); Rosa polyantha Thunb. 'orange fairy' (RPO) and Rosa polyantha Thunb. 'white fairy' (RPW) were quantified using UPLC-ESI-MS/MS. Sixty one compounds were identified where flavonoid glycosides were the most abundant. Principal component analysis (PCA) and Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) discriminated the six samples into four clusters where RBW-F & RPW-A formed one cluster, RPW-F & RPO-F formed another and RPO-A and RBW-A were in two separate clusters. The six Rosa extracts were tested as insecticidal agents against Culex pipiens L. larvae and pupae and their fecundity reducing activity was evaluated for the emerging adult mosquitoes. RPW flowers and aerial parts’ extracts demonstrated powerful larvicidal and pupicidal activities with LC50 373.3 and 383.2 ppm, respectively. Sterility indices reached 51.4% at highest concentrations used. All flower extracts possessed significantly high mortality and sterility activities (P < 0.001) compared to the aerial parts (P < 0.01).The UPLC-MS/MS metabolic profile of the extracts showed their richness in polyphenolic compounds. The 70% methanolic extracts of RBW, RPO and RPW aerial parts and flowers can be utilized as natural and safe plantbased insecticides for C. pipiens (filariasis vector) control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]