The neonicotinoids are the most successful chemical class of insecticides reaching sales of more than 630 Mio $ in 2001, mainly due to the excellent market performance of imidacloprid and thiamethoxam. The insect nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are the targets for
these compounds, which are highly effective against a variety of sucking and chewing insects. Compared with the other neonicotinoid sales products, thiamethoxam binds in a different way, possibly to a different site of nAChRs in aphids. To gain further insight into the different modes of binding,
a research program applying the photoaffinity labeling technique was started. A series of novel candidate photoaffinity probes containing a 5-azido-6-chloropyridin-3-ylmethyl group were prepared from 5-azido-6-chloropyridin-3-ylmethyl chloride, which was obtained in three steps from 6-chloropyridin-3-ylmethyl
chloride. These probes showed good to excellent contact/feeding and systemic activity against Myzus persicae, however, they were at least 4- to 16-fold less effective against Aphis craccivora, Nilaparvata lugens, Spodoptera littoralis, and Diabrotica balteata than the
neonicotinoid sales products. In general, the introduction of an azide group at C(5) of the 6-chloropyridin-3-ylmethyl substituent resulted in reduced potency as well as in a narrower pest spectrum. In competition binding assays with [3H]imidacloprid, analogues of imidacloprid,
clothianidin, thiacloprid and thiamethoxam containing a 5-azido-6-chloropyridin-3-ylmethyl group showed high displacing potency with nAChRs from Aphis and Myzus (Ki values: 2 to 27 nM) suggesting that these compounds are valuable candidate photoaffinity probes.
Taking into account the biological screening activity as well as the receptor binding potency, 1-(5-azido-6-chloropyridin-3-ylmethyl)-2-nitroimino-imidazolidine, N-(5-azido-6-chloropyridin-3-ylmethyl)-N?-methyl-N?-nitroguanidine and 3-(5-azido-6-chloropyridin-3-ylmethyl)-2-cyanoimino-thiazolidine
were identified as the preferred candidate neonicotinoid photoaffinity probes to study the imidacloprid binding site.
新烟碱类杀虫剂是最成功的化学类杀虫剂之一,2001年销售额超过6.3亿美元,主要归功于良好的市场表现,如吡虫啉和噻虫嗪。这些化合物的靶点是昆虫的尼古丁乙酰胆碱受体(nAChRs),对多种吸食和咀嚼昆虫具有高效作用。与其他新烟碱类杀虫剂销售产品相比,噻虫嗪以不同的方式结合,可能是与蚜虫的nAChRs上的不同位点结合。为了进一步了解不同的结合模式,开始了一个应用光致亲和标记技术的研究项目。从6-氯吡啶-3-甲基氯化物中经过三步制备了一系列新型候选光致亲和探针,其中包含5-叠氮-6-氯吡啶-3-基甲基基团。这些探针对桃蚜具有良好至优异的接触/摄食和系统活性,但对黑豆蚜、褐飞虱、棉铃虫和斜纹夜蛾至少比新烟碱类杀虫剂销售产品低4至16倍。总的来说,在6-氯吡啶-3-甲基取代基的C(5)位置引入叠氮基团导致了活性降低以及害虫谱变窄。在与[3H]吡虫啉竞争结合实验中,含有5-叠氮-6-氯吡啶-3-基甲基基团的吡虫啉、克虫啉、噻虫啉和噻虫嗪类似物在蚜虫和桃蚜的nAChRs上显示出高位移能力(Ki值:2至27 nM),表明这些化合物是有价值的候选光致亲和探针。考虑到生物筛选活性和受体结合效力,1-(5-叠氮-6-氯吡啶-3-基甲基)-2-硝基亚咪唑啉、N-(5-叠氮-6-氯吡啶-3-基甲基)-N?-甲基-N?-硝基胍和3-(5-叠氮-6-氯吡啶-3-基甲基)-2-氰基亚噻唑啉被确定为首选的候选新烟碱类光致亲和探针,用于研究吡虫啉结合位点。