Chapters authored
Propesticides and Their Implications
With increasing knowledge of the biochemistry and genetics of major pest insects, weeds, and agricultural pathogens, the design of such selectivity becomes a part of pesticide development and is achieved by appropriate structural modification of the parent lead molecule which is called as propesticide. In a strict sense, a propesticide is a biologically inactive compound requiring structural transformation(s) after application to become pesticidally active. Various pesticides have come to the limelight of being a propesticide by carrying out studies on their metabolic fate in organisms. Studies on the metabolic fate of diafenthiuron in vitro by liver microsomes from various vertebrates revealed a variety of possible transformations of the thiourea. Few have been developed by reversibly masking the active ingredients. Fluorinated N-acylaziridine behaves as a propesticide of the fluorinated carboxylate and the hydrolysis of the former to 2-methylaziridine and carboxylate being activation pathway. Imidacloprid and the thiazolylmethyl analogue masked with oxodioxolyl group decomposed with half life of 15.4 and 11.4 h in alkaline and physiological salt solutions, respectively, releasing imidacloprid quantitatively. New propesticide with two effects of both benzoylphenyl ureas and carbamates were designed and synthesized.
Part of the book: Insecticides