Essential Oil of Convolvulus trabutianus as a Natural Candidate for Anticancer, Antiviral, Antimicrobial, and Larvicidal Remedy
Abdullah A. Alyousef, Ashok Kumar, Atallah F. Ahmed, Sadeem A. Alqurashi, Ashraf Mohamed Ahmed, Hazem K. Ghneim, Burak Tüzün, Mohamed Chebaibi, Khalid M. Alghamdi, Pu Xia, Laila Benbacer, Mohammed Bourhia, Yazeed A. Al‐Sheikh, Mourad A. M. Aboul‐SoudABSTRACT
Essential oils (EOs) derived from medicinal plants represent a rich reservoir of bioactive natural products with therapeutic value across infectious diseases, cancer, and vector‐borne illnesses. Convolvulus trabutianus ( C. tarbutianus ) is an endemic North‐African species whose pharmacological potential has remained largely unexplored. The essential oil of C. trabutianus (EoCt) was obtained by hydrodistillation and characterized by GC–MS, identifying 65 compounds with β‐Thujone (13.98%) as the major constituent. EoCt showed anti‐proliferative activity against HepG2 cells (IC 50 = 80 µg/mL) while sparing noncancerous cells, dose‐dependent antiviral effects against HRSV‐A (∼75% inhibition), antibacterial activity against Gram‐negative bacteria, anticandidal activity against C. kefyr , and strong larvicidal activity against Culex pipiens . Molecular docking analysis revealed that thymol and carvacrol exhibited the greatest binding affinities for the target proteins, reinforced by favorable ADME/T profiles that supported their suitability as drug‐like candidates. Structure–activity relationship (SAR) analysis correlated the chemical composition of EoCt with its observed bioactivities, indicating a synergistic contribution of multiple terpenoid constituents to its broad‐spectrum effects. Overall, the present findings highlight EoCt as a promising natural source of bioactive compounds with concurrent anticancer, antiviral, antimicrobial, and larvicidal potential, and provided a foundation for subsequent research on its in vitro and in vivo efficacy, biocompatibility and safety in different biological systems.