ARS | Publication request: Discovery of novel mosquito repellents from structure-activity studies

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: August 16, 2009
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: For the AGRO division: Recent Developments in Invertebrate Repellents. The USDA historical archives of repellents and toxicants consists of over 30,000 chemical structures tested over the past 60 years. We have undertaken a collaborative research project to initially target six subsets of these compounds to discover and develop new chemicals for personal protection and control of mosquitoes. The first subset consisted of 68 candidate mosquito repellents comprised of piperidines and carboxamides. Evaluation of two dose rates using a cloth patch assay with human volunteers indicated that the duration of repellency from one of the carboxamides and 28 of the piperidines was greater than that of DEET when repellents were compared at stoichiometric amounts. Some of the piperidines were repellent on cloth for over 50 days at the 25 'm dose, while DEET provided 7 days repellency using “time to 5 bites” out of 500 mosquitoes as the failure threshold (i.e. 1% threshold). Current studies are being extended to evaluate these repellents against other arthropod species, including stable flies (Stomoxys calcitrans) and ticks (Ixodes and Ambylomma).