Posted June
22, 2005, ARS News Service: A newly introduced
class of insecticidal compounds developed by the Agricultural
Research Service (ARS) and cooperators offers safe and
effective alternatives to conventional chemical insecticides.
The active ingredients are based on sugar esters that
are natural chemicals secreted by wild tobacco plants
to protect themselves against insect predators. When
certain insects rub up against and chew on the plants'
leaf hairs, the insects become contaminated with the
compound and die.
ARS entomologist Gary J. Puterka, working with industry
cooperators, developed synthetic analogs, or look-alikes,
of the natural sugar esters. He and colleagues then
screened various synthetic sugar esters to find the
most potent among them. While working at the ARS Appalachian
Fruit Research Station in Kearneysville, W.Va., Puterka
identified several of the new chemical forms that kill
test insects instantly.
Puterka has been named a co-inventor on two patents
that define the chemical structures of the compounds,
as well as an environmentally sound process for their
manufacture. One of the compounds, sorbitol octanoate,
has proved less costly to produce than earlier forms
patented, and is now undergoing the process of registration
with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The analogs kill by breaking down the insect pests'
outer waxy coating. Then the insects lose water and
die from dehydration. The new class of compounds is
unique among insecticides because their active ingredients
do not leave a detrimental residue on surfaces to which
they are applied. What's left over after application
becomes inactive upon drying and rapidly degrades.
The latest synthetic sugar esters, if licensed, could
be a boon to the home and garden market, according to
Puterka. Licensing information with the ARS Office of
Technology Transfer can be found on the World Wide Web
at: http://www.ars.usda.gov/business/docs.htm?docid=768
Read more about the research in the June 2005 issue
of Agricultural Research magazine: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/jun05/insect0605.htm
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