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The objective of this study is to determine the larvicidal activity of essential oils (EOs) extracted from three plants of the genus Artemisia against the mosquito Culex pipiens (C. pipiens) using in vitro and in silico studies. A total number of 20 third- and fourth-instar larvae were exposed to various concentrations of the three plants. The LC50 and LC90 values of the tested Artemisia EOs were determined using Probit analysis. In addition, the sensitivity of C. pipiens to these EOs was determined and compared against a standard insecticide, temephos, under laboratory conditions. Furthermore, in silico assessments were carried out on the major constituents to help understand and explain the acquired in vivo results. Gas chromatography analysis identified the major compounds as d-limonene and β-pinene for Artemisia flahaultii, camphor and borneol for Artemisia. aragonensis, and artemisia ketone and caryophyllene for Artemisia annua. A. flahaultii oil showed the highest efficacy against C. pipiens larvae, followed by A. annua oil with average larvicidal activity. In contrast, A. aragonensis EO, composed of a high percentage of monoterpenes, was the least active. Docking simulation indicated that several studied ligands had promising binding scores within the receptor’s binding site compared to the reference insecticide temephos. The obtained results allow us to conclude that A. flahaultii, a species endemic to Morocco, is an excellent means of controlling C. pipiens.

The objective of this work was to characterize the phytochemical composition of essential oil from Juniperus thurifera (L.) fruits (EOFT) and study its antioxidant, antibacterial, and antifungal effects. EOFT was extracted by hydrodistillation and fingerprinted by using GC–MS. The antioxidant effect of EOFT was evaluated using 2,2-diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH), ferric iron reduction assay (FRAP), and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) assays. Importantly, the antimicrobial activity of EOFT was performed against Candida albicans, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium oxysporum, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, and Proteus mirabilis. In addition, the inhibitory capacity of NADPH oxidase and human acetylcholinesterase was also investigated using molecular docking. The results of the chemical composition reveal that EOFT constituted 11 terpenic compounds with dominance of elemol (33.86%), terpinen-4-ol (27.80%), and cryptomeridiol (18.36%). The antioxidant power of EOFT recorded IC50 values of 197.07 ± 0.09 μg/mL (DPPH) and 216.34 ± 0.06 μg/mL (FRAP), while TAC of EOFT was determined to be 181.06 μg AAE/mg. The antibacterial potency on solid medium revealed that EOFT induced inhibition zone diameters reaching 14 mm, and a minimum concentration up to 2.78 µg/mL against the studied bacterial strains. The EOFT also showed an important antifungal effect as the inhibition reached 42%, and the MIC was between 7.50 and 22.25 µg/mL. The in silico study showed that o-Cymene was the most active molecule against NAD(P)H oxidase followed by cadinol with a Glide score of −5.344 and −5.143 kcal/mol, respectively. Due to their promising results, the outcome of this work suggests that EOFT could be used as an interesting natural weapon to control microbial and freed radical-related diseases.