As pointed out in the article, “Many [natural chemicals] have complex structures that are difficult and expensive to make synthetically.
Originally posted on Living With Insects Blog:
Reticulitermes flavipes, Eastern Subterranean Termite Chemicals in spices are often noted for deleterious effects on insects. However, these natural chemicals rarely are deployed as commercial insecticides. The insecticidal chemicals in spices are often at low doses making extraction impractical. Many have complex structures that are difficult and expensive to make synthetically. They often degrade too rapidly for long term effect. They may have deleterious effects on beneficial insects or be toxic to plants. The greatest utility of insecticidal plant chemicals is to serve as models for chemists. Chemists can make modifications of a chemical structure to produce new synthetics with more desirable properties such as better efficacy, low environmental impact, appropriate selectivity and minimal adverse human health effects. Many of our modern synthetic insecticides are based on plant toxins.
Turmeric, a spice noted for insecticidal properties has been studied for its toxicity to termites and the insecticidal chemicals elucidated. The…
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