Virucidal and Antiviral Polyhydroxylated Fatty Alcohols in Avocado Fruit Pulp (Persea americana) of Booth 7 Cultivar¶

Avocado fruit pulp (Persea americana) of the Booth 7 cultivar was explored for its bioactive compounds. Polyhydroxylated fatty alcohols, also known as polyols or acetogenins, were obtained after chromatographic separation of a crude pulp extract of P. americana. Five polyols 1–5, including known ones, avocadyne (1), avocadene (2), avocadenol D (4), and avoenin (5), together with a new natural product, namely, avocadinin (3), were isolated from avocado fruit pulp. Some polyhydroxylated fatty alcohols exhibited virucidal and antiviral activities. Avocadinin (3), avocadenol D (4), and avoenin (5) exhibited virucidal activity against a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) surrogate, with EC50 values of 2.30, 2.69, and 1.69 μM, respectively. For antiviral activity, avocadenol D (4) displayed the activity with an EC50 value of 5.82 μM, while avocadinin (3) and avoenin (5) exhibited less antiviral activity with respective EC50 values of 11.99 and 14.32 μM.