Preparation of Amide-Containing Insecticidal Derivatives from the Renewable Natural Product β-Pinene

The preparation of bioactive derivatives from the renewable natural product pinene is a hot research topic in the deep processing and utilization of pinene. In this study, β-pinene was used to develop novel molecules as a promising new precursor of insecticide. A series of amide-containing derivatives of β-pinene were synthesized and characterized. The insecticidal activities of these derivatives against Mythimna separate and Semiaphis heraclei were tested. The structure characterization results showed that the characterization data of amide-containing derivatives were in full agreement with their proposed structures. The insecticidal activities evaluation results indicated that amide-containing derivatives exhibited weak insecticidal activity against Mythimna separate, but exhibited moderate to good insecticidal activity against Semiaphis heraclei. After testing for 72 h, the corrected mortality against Semiaphis heraclei of compounds 5c, 5e, 5f, 5 h, 5j, and 5 m was 100% at 1000 mg/L. The structure-activity relationship analysis results showed that the introduction of an amide group into the structure of derivatives improved their insecticidal activity against Semiaphis heraclei. Meanwhile, the amide-containing derivatives containing the F and NO2 substituted benzene ring might improve their insecticidal activity against Semiaphis heraclei. This study will be helpful for the high value-added utilization of the natural renewable resource β-pinene and the development of novel insecticides.