Chemistry and Drug Design

Phenylpropanoids are found in natural products consisting of C6-C3 carbon skeleton that illustrated a wide range of biological activities. In this research, phenylpropanoids were synthesized for searching novel eco-friendly insecticides and investigated the structure and insecticidal activity relationship. Synthetic phenylpropanoids, which have been achieved from commercially available benzaldehyde derivatives in three steps; Knovenagel condensation, esterification to methyl ester and reduction of ester group into alcohol, were tested for insecticidal activity against second instar larvae of Spodoptera litura using topical application. Almost all compounds exhibited more than 30% mortality after 24 hours post-treatment at a dose of 2.0 μg/larva. The results indicated that the substituent group on the aromatic ring and side chain moieties of phenylpropanoids affected to the insecticidal activity.