Dermophilic Insect Repellents with Perdurable Efficacy

The synthesis of the monohexanoate, monopropionate, and monobenzoate esters of dihydroxyacetone is reported; the compounds were designed to provide long-lasting insect-repellent efficacy. The insectifugal properties of these compounds and those of the corresponding monoundecanoate ester are also described. While several of the compounds exerted significant repellency, the perdurable effect of dihydroxyacetone monohexanoate (II) was particularly noteworthy.