Plant Monoterpenoids (Prospective Pesticides)

Abstract Essential oil–based pesticides are supposed to have no adverse effect on the environment and they are safe to human beings because most of the essential oils and their major constituents are nontoxic to mammals and have higher acute oral LD 50 values in rodents, ranging from 800 to 3000 mg/kg for pure compounds and >5000 mg/kg for the formulated products. Monoterpenoids are a major constituent in plant essential oils. Essential oils have multiple modes of action and with different target sites at both biochemical and physiological levels in insects. Their properties provide a range of pesticidal actions against structural pests, stored product insects, flies and cockroaches, and mosquitoes. Many of the commercial products incorporate materials or compounds that are listed by the United States Department of Agriculture as “generally recognized as safe.” The major area of concern is the safety of natural products used in formulations and their precise mode of action. This chapter focuses on the exploitation of monoterpenoids as household pesticides and their commercial production as viable pesticidal products.