Sugar derivatives containing oxiranes and alpha,beta-unsaturated gamma-lactones as potential environmentally friendly insecticides

A range of novel sugar derivatives containing oxiranes or alpha,beta-unsaturated gamma-lactones in their structure were evaluated as potential insecticides with the added possible benefit of being benign in the environment. A number of arthropod species were chosen to represent those in the terrestrial, aerial and aquatic environments, covering target adult insects such as Musca domestica L (housefly) and Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood) (glasshouse whitefly), which are public health and horticultural pests, Drosophila melanogaster Meig (fruitfly), both adult and larva, and a marine non-target crustacean, Artemia salina L. The tested compounds possessed efficacy and selectivity against these insect species, but were not toxic to brine shrimps, a reference organism in assays to evaluate the potential toxicity hazard to invertebrates in ecosystems.