ARS | Publication request: New Insecticides and Repellents For Use on Mosquitoes and Sand Flies

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: February 10, 2010
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: The major emphasis of our research is on the discovery and development of new insecticides for personal protection. The insecticide discovery effort involves structure-activity modeling to correlate molecular structure and electronic properties with repellent and/or insecticidal activity. Models are developed from compounds and their activities as reported in the USDA historical archive (1942-present). These models are then used to predict novel compounds for further testing as repellents and/or insecticides. A second effort involves insecticide-treated clothing for the U.S. military. The bite prevention ability of permethrin-treated uniforms is being conducted, and efforts are being made to improve the protective ability of uniforms by exploring novel treatments. Another area of research is on behavior-modifying chemicals that inhibit insect attraction to a bloodmeal host by producing anosmia in the insects, thereby masking the host from detection by the insects. These inhibitors may be usable as an augmentative personal protection method for hosts. The final area of research involves improved analytical detection methods and devices for field detection of insecticides. By using a gas chromatographic-differential mobility spectrometry device, the accuracy of field airborne-insecticide concentration measurements will be improved significantly, but more importantly, the speed of analysis will be greatly increased due to reduced sample preparation time.