Structure and Antifeedant Activity Relationship of neo-Clerodane Diterpenes Against Colorado Potato Beetle Larvae

The Colorado potato beetle is a pest damaging potato and eggplant crops. This insect adapts quickly to the most synthetic insecticides and requires more poisonous agents to decrease its population [1]. In spite of the resistance developed by Leptinotarsa decemlineata, chemical insecticides remains the main method to control it [2]. The search for natural products that show relevant activity as antifeedants is stimulated by the evaluation and discovery of many natural substances, mainly alkaloids and diterpenoids, that can be used successfully as a source of new insect pest control agents that are biodegradable and have a low impact on the environment [3, 4]. neo-Clerodane diterpenoids are of interest due to their varied biological activities, especially as feeding suppressors and deterrents against some insect pests such as Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say) [5]. The antifeedant activity of neo-clerodanes is consider to depend on some structural features of these compounds. Kojima and Kato ...