Location: Natural Products Utilization Research
Project Number: 6060-32000-003-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: Nov 19, 2019
End Date: Nov 18, 2024
Objective:
1. Develop biopesticides to improve control of arthropods.
1.1. Discover novel bioinsecticide active ingredients from crude plant extract screening and bioassay-directed fractionation.
1.2. Discovery of fungal compounds with activity against permethrin-resistant and susceptible mosquitoes.
2. Develop biorepellents to improve control of arthropods.
2.1. Discover novel arthropod repelling biopesticides from mosquito repelling folk remedies and plant essential oils.
2.2. Development and optimization of the chromene derivative 131-1 as a biopesticide.
3. Develop natural product synthetic analogs for management and control of arthropods.
3.1. Use synthetic methods to develop and optimize fatty acids as natural topical and spatial arthropod repellents.
3.2. 131-1 Development into a commercial mosquito repelling product.
Approach:
A bioassay-directed investigative approach will be performed on bioactive extracts in efforts to discover bioinsecticides and repellents for use against arthropod pests. General procedures for isolation of active compounds from plants and microbes will be utilized. Solvent extractions, liquid-liquid partitioning, column chromatography and thin layer chromatography will be employed as needed. Extracts, fractions and pure compounds will be tested for insecticidal and insect repellent activity in assays being carried out routinely at collaborator's laboratories. Identification of active compounds will be done using spectroscopic methods including mass spectroscopy (EI, CI, and high resolution ESI), nuclear magnetic resonance (one- and two-dimensional). Chemical modification will be performed on compound(s) identified as "highly active" to improve activity or bioavailability.
