Influence of pyrethroid ester, oxime ether, and other central linkages on insecticidal activity, hydrolytic detoxification, and physicochemical parameters

Abstract

The relative potency to target and nontarget insects of ester pyrethroids and the analogous oxime ethers, and the degree of synergism of the esters with tributyl phosphorotrithioate, provide a useful guide to the importance of esterase detoxification in species specificity. These criteria indicate that esterase detoxification is a more important component of pyrethroid tolerance in Chrysopa carnea and Cryptolaemus montrouzieri larvae than in Exochomus flavipis larvae and Musca domestica adults. Studies with 3-phenoxybenzyl 2-(4-chlorophenyl)-2-cyclopropylacetate and the corresponding 2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzyl ester, their oxime ether analogs, and permethrin and its thiol ester and amide analogs provide evidence that the high insecticidal activity of some ester and E-oxime ether pyrethroids, relative to that of the corresponding thiol ester and amide, is more closely associated with the dipole moment and polarizability of the central linkage and its resistance to esterase detoxification than with bond lengths or lipophilicities conferred by a specific linkage. Pentafluorobenzyl tetramethylcyclopropanecarboxylate is very effective in the vapor state for house fly control.