Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2010 Aug;2(8):1943-62.
doi: 10.3390/toxins2081943. Epub 2010 Jul 29.

Natural toxins for use in pest management

Affiliations
Review

Natural toxins for use in pest management

Stephen O Duke et al. Toxins (Basel). 2010 Aug.

Abstract

Natural toxins are a source of new chemical classes of pesticides, as well as environmentally and toxicologically safer molecules than many of the currently used pesticides. Furthermore, they often have molecular target sites that are not exploited by currently marketed pesticides. There are highly successful products based on natural compounds in the major pesticide classes. These include the herbicide glufosinate (synthetic phosphinothricin), the spinosad insecticides, and the strobilurin fungicides. These and other examples of currently marketed natural product-based pesticides, as well as natural toxins that show promise as pesticides from our own research are discussed.

Keywords: algicide; fungicide; herbicide; insecticide; molluscicide; pesticide.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Structures of natural toxins that have been proposed as herbicides, are commercial herbicides, have been the structural basis for commercial herbicides.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Structure of the major bioactive constituents isolated from the soil Actinomycete, Saccharopolyspora spinosa.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Structures of the six major constituents of pyrethrum.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Structures of avermectins and milbemycins.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Structure of azadirachtin A.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Structure of rotenone, a major constituent in rotenone insecticide preparations.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Structure of cevadine from sabadilla derived extracts.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Some plant-derived compouds with termiticidal activity.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Chemical structures of the derivatives of 1-undec-10-enoyl-piperidines and piperine.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Amides with lavicide activity.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Water-soluble derivative of anthraquinone, referred to as anthraquinone-59.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Chemical structures of quinone-based algicidal compounds.
Figure 13
Figure 13
Natural and synthetic strobilurin fungicides.
Figure 14
Figure 14
Fungicidal compounds isolated from H. sieversii.
Figure 15
Figure 15
Antifungal oxylipins from the mushroom Gomphus floccosus.
Figure 16
Figure 16
CAY-1, a fungicidal saponin from Capsicum frutescens.

References

    1. Duke S.O., Abbas H.K., Amagasa T., Tanaka T. Phytotoxins of microbial origin with potential for use as herbicides. In: Copping L.G., editor. Crop Protection Agents from Nature: Natural Products and Analogues, Critical Reviews on Applied Chemistry. Vol. 35. Society for Chemical Industries; Cambridge, UK: 1996. pp. 82–113.
    1. Copping L.G., Duke S.O. Natural products that have been used commercially as crop protection agents—a review. Pest Manag. Sci. 2007;63:524–554. - PubMed
    1. Dayan F.E., Cantrell C.L., Duke S.O. Natural products in crop protection. Bioorg. Med. Chem. 2009;17:4022–4034. - PubMed
    1. Duke S.O., Rimando A.M., Schrader K.K., Cantrell C.L., Meepagala K.M., Wedge D.E., Tabanca N., Dayan F.E. Natural products for pest management. In: Ikan R., editor. Selected Topics in the Chemistry of Natural Products. World Scientific; Singapore, Singapore: 2008. pp. 209–251.
    1. Duke S.O., Dayan F.E., Rimando A.M., Schrader K.K., Aliotta G., Oliva A., Romagni J.G. Chemicals from nature for weed management. Weed Sci. 2002;50:138–151.