Terpenes: Natural Products for Controlling Insects of Importance to Human Health—A Structure-Activity Relationship Study

Abstract

Many insects affect food production and human health, and in an attempt to control these insects the use of synthetic insecticides has become widespread. However, this has resulted in the development of resistance in these organisms, human diseases, contamination of food, and pollution of the environment. Plants natural products and essential oil components such as terpenes and phenylpropenes have been shown to have a significant potential for insect control. However, the molecular properties related to their insecticidal activity are not well understood. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the toxicity of terpene compounds against three insects of importance to human health: lice, cockroaches, and Triatominae bugs and to evaluate which molecular descriptors are important in the bioactivity of terpenes. For the insects studied, quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) studies were performed in order to predict the insecticidal activity of terpene compounds. The obtained QSAR models indicated that the activity of these compounds depends on their ability to reach the targets and to interact with them. The QSAR analysis can be used to predict the bioactivities of other structurally related molecules. Our findings may provide an important contribution in the search for new compounds with insecticidal activity.

Cinnamaldehyde and related phenylpropanoids, natural repellents, and insecticides against Sitophilus zeamais (Motsch.). A chemical structure‐bioactivity relationship

“…Results with P values < 0.05 were considered to be significant. InfoStat Professional 2010p software was used for the statistical analyses …”

“…Among the components of essential oils, the benzene derivatives have revealed high insecticidal and repellent action . Different factors could be related to the toxic action of phenylpropanoids, such as the distance of the double bond in the side chain in respect to the aromatic ring; LogP values and their relation with cuticular penetration; the polarizability of the molecule; the presence of carbonyl groups and their interactions with the GABA receptor; and the inhibition of AChE activity . Comparison of toxicity values could reveal the potential for structurally dependent toxicity.…”

Can the Cure for Chagas’ Disease be Found in Nature?

“…Hence, sakuranetin (30) was chemically transformed thru methylation procedure furnishing sakuranetin-4′-methyl ether (31). This chemical modification yielded an inactive compound against the tested parasite species.…”

“…Plants can produce a wide diversity of compounds that are involved in their chemical defense [30]. Those compounds are usually volatile and can be found concentrated on their essential oils [31]. Among these natural products, terpene compounds have been shown to have a significant potential for insect control [31] killing or at least repealing the insects away.…”

“…Those compounds are usually volatile and can be found concentrated on their essential oils [31]. Among these natural products, terpene compounds have been shown to have a significant potential for insect control [31] killing or at least repealing the insects away. However, little is known about the molecular properties related to their insecticidal activity.…”