Original: https://doi.org/10.1080/14756366.2026.2627052
To create environmentally friendly pesticides with new ways of killing insects, researchers designed and made a new group of chemical compounds from scratch. These compounds are called dual-chiral N-cyano sulfilimine-substituted anthranilic diamides.
They tested these new chemicals against two harmful insects:
- Mythimna separata (a crop-damaging caterpillar)
- Plutella xylostella (diamondback moth)
Main findings
- Most of the new compounds were very effective against M. separata.
- Compounds 6a–b and 6f–g almost completely killed the insects at a very low concentration (0.1 mg/L).
- Their performance was similar to chlorantraniliprole (CHL), a widely used commercial insecticide.
For P. xylostella:
- Compounds 6g and 7h worked even better than CHL.
- Compound 6g performed as well as CHL against M. separata.
How these compounds work
The researchers believe that some compounds, especially 6g and 7h, affect a specific protein in insects called the ryanodine receptor (RyR). This protein controls calcium release in muscle cells, which is essential for insect movement and survival.
Computer simulations (molecular docking) showed that:
- Compound 6g forms three hydrogen bonds with the RyR binding site.
- CHL forms only two hydrogen bonds.
- This suggests that 6g may bind more strongly to the target protein, possibly explaining its strong insect-killing ability.
Conclusion
This study shows that these newly designed chiral compounds are promising eco-friendly insecticides. The results also provide useful information for designing future pesticides that target insect RyR more effectively.