Downloaded by 80.82.77.83 on May 20, 2018 | https://pubs.acs.org Publication Date: February 23, 1989 | doi: 10.1021/bk-1989-0387.pr001
Preface I L A N T - D E R I V E D S U B S T A N C E S have been used as botanical pesticides since ancient times. They were largely abandoned during the era of synthetic pesticides, but now the study of natural pesticides contributes novel approaches in control strategies for pests. Botanical pesticides are plant natural products that belong to the group of so-called secondary metabolites, which includes thousands of alkaloids, terpenoids, phenolics, and minor secondary chemicals. These substances have no known function in photosynthesis, growth, or other basic aspects of plant physiology; however, their biological activity with insects, nematodes, and phytopathogenic fungi, among other organisms, is well-documented in the recent explosion of literature in chemical ecology. Selective pressure exerted by plant pests has probably contributed to the evolution of natural protective agents designed to disrupt pest physiology. Apparently, almost every plant species has developed a unique chemical complex (hat protects it from pests. Thus, the plant kingdom offers us a diverse group of complex chemical structures and almost every imaginable biological activity. The discovery rate for new insecticides from synthetic sources has declined in recent years. Furthermore, synthetic insecticides that share a neurotoxic mode of action can lead to the development of cross resistance in plants. Fortunately, we can find many new alternatives within the large group of natural substances. In addition, many botanical pesticides have the advantage of providing novel modes of action that reduce the risk of cross resistance. Naturally occurring mixtures of substances provide a multifactoral selective pressure that slows the development of resistance in pests. More important, researchers in this area have discovered subtle but effective mechanisms of pest control, such as the behavior-modifying antifeedants, repellents, and oviposition deterrents. The symposium on which this book is based brought together specialists from Africa and Asia, Europe and North America. Among the chapters in this volume are historical, ethnobotanical reports about the use of plants by native North Americans and accounts of traditional use of plants by African and Asian farmers. Martin Jacobson, who has the longest association of the authors with the field, describes the modern history of botanicals and surveys the range of species investigated in
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Arnason et al.; Insecticides of Plant Origin ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1989.
Downloaded by 80.82.77.83 on May 20, 2018 | https://pubs.acs.org Publication Date: February 23, 1989 | doi: 10.1021/bk-1989-0387.pr001
recent years. A m o n g the new botanical pesticides examined in this volume are acetogenins of the Annonaceae, agarofurans of the Celastraceae, and limonoids of the Me/iaceoe. The authors deal with the metabolism and toxicity of acetylchromenes in insects, electro physiological bases of antifeedant action of nonprotein amino acids, and the repellent action of eugenol to stored grain pests. Several chapters focus on the botanical pesticide, neem, which is close to registration and has potent antifeedant and molt-inhibiting properties and can move systemically in plants. Neem is used worldwide and has a preliminary registration in the United States. Authors evaluate its mode of action and performance under field conditions. The novel phototoxic thiophenes, which arc exceptional larvicides of the malaria mosquito, are described. Pipericides are the subject of a chapter about synthetic approaches to developing highly active insecticides from a promising lead. Transgenic technologies that use petunia sterones are explored. Acknowledgments The symposium and book would have been impossible without the support of a major grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and generous support from Cyanamid Canada Ltd., Safer Canada Ltd., the Chemical Institute of Canada, the Canadian Society for Chemistry, and the American Chemical Society. We are especially grateful to the many reviewers who contributed their time and effort and to J . Pierce, who suggested the project. J . T. A R N A S O N B. J. R. PHILOGENE PETER MORAND
University of Ottawa Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5, Canada December 14, 1988
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Arnason et al.; Insecticides of Plant Origin ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1989.
