Chemoenzymatic Routes to Spinosyns - A New and Environmentally Benign Class of Insecticide

The spinosyns, discovered by Dow-Agro Sciences and now marketed under the tradename Tracer, are a new group of structurally complex and naturally derived insect control agents originally isolated from bacterial sources. These compounds show especially good activity against a broad spectrum of lepidoptera, the control of which represents a $(US) 1.5 global market. The aim of this project is to identify, through extensive biological evaluation of synthetic analogues, the toxic sub0units (toxiphores) responsible for the insecticidal activity associated the spinosyns in an effort to provide new lead compounds suitable for field trials.