Bisphosphoramidate derivatives: synthesis, crystal structure, anti-cholinesterase activity, insecticide potency and QSAR analysis

Involvement of Cholinergic and Redox Impairments in Insecticidal Properties of Essential Oils from Fertility Tree and Horseradish Tree Leaves in Fruit Fly (Drosophila melanogaster)

This study reports the biological activity of essential oils from fertility tree and horseradish tree leaves, and the mechanisms by which these oils promote insecticidal activity using Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism. Adult D. melanogaster were exposed to these essential oils at a final concentration of 10 µL/g for 24 hours. The exposure of flies to the essential oil resulted in significant decrease in their survival and fecundity. In addition, the essential oils produced significant reduction in acetylcholinesterase activity and induced oxidative stress in the flies as evidenced by an increase in reactive oxygen species, thiol and thiobarbituric reactive substance levels, as well as catalase activity. The essential oils were also characterized by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Constituents such as terpenoids, Bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, benzeneacetaldehyde, phytol, octadecane, 9,12-octadecadienoic acid (Z,Z)- methyl ester, heneicosane, eicosane and others were characterized. Therefore, our results point out to the potential application of fertility tree and horseradish tree leaf essential oils as natural alternatives to synthetic insecticides in agricultural and pest control practices, especially against dipterans.

Synthesis, crystal structure, insecticidal activities, molecular docking and QSAR studies of some new phospho guanidines and phospho pyrazines as cholinesterase inhibitors

Novel phospho guanidine and phospho pyrazine derivatives were synthesized and characterized by ³¹P, ¹³C, ¹HNMR and IR spectroscopy to obtain novel and human-safe insecticides. Compound 35 [(C₄H₄N₂NH)₂P(O)(C₆H₆)] was investigated by X-ray crystallography. The inhibitory effects of synthesized compounds were evaluated on human and insect acetylcholinesterase (AChE) using in vitro Ellman method. A few of these compounds, which had low human toxicity, were selected for assessing the killing effects (in vivo) on the elm leaf beetle (X.luteola). The in vitro and in vivo results indicated that compounds bearing both phosphoryl groups and aromatic systems were found to possess a good selectivity for the inhibition of insect AChE over human AChE; up to 550-fold selectivity was achieved for compound 19. Docking studies were performed to explain reasons for the selective behavior of AChE inhibitors. Additionally, the quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) and density functional theory (DFT) results of AChEs demonstrated that the size, shape, dipole moment, and ability to form hydrogen bond played the main role in both models. In addition, the aromatic π - π interactions and charge of the amide nitrogen had a major effect on insecticidal activity of the compounds. The present research can be helpful to gain a better understanding of the interactions between the insect AChE and its inhibitors and introduces compounds which are capable of becoming human-safe insecticides.