Tephritid fruit flies are amongst the most significant horticultural pests globally and male chemical lures are important for monitoring and control. Zingerone has emerged as a unique male fruit fly lure that can attract dacine fruit flies that are weakly or non-responsive to methyl eugenol and cuelure. However, the key features of zingerone that mediate this attraction are unknown. As Jarvis’s fruit fly, Bactrocera jarvisi (Tryon), is strongly attracted to zingerone, we evaluated the response of B. jarvisi to 37 zingerone analogues in a series of field trials to elucidate the functional groups involved in attraction. The most attractive analogues were alkoxy derivatives, with isopropoxy being the most attractive, followed by ethoxy and trifluoromethoxy analogues. All of the phenolic esters tested were also attractive with the response typically decreasing with increasing size of the ester. Results indicate that the carbonyl group, methoxy group, and phenol of zingerone are key sites for the attraction of B. jarvisi and identify some constraints on the range of structural modifications that can be made to zingerone without compromising attraction. These findings are important for future work in developing and optimising novel male chemical lures for fruit flies.

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Systematic Modification of Zingerone Reveals Structural Requirements for Attraction of Jarvis’s Fruit Fly

Further studies on anti-invasive chemotypes: An excursion from chalcones to curcuminoids.

Synthesis of novel feruloyl dipeptides with proapoptotic potential against different cancer cell lines

The benzotriazole fragment is known to behave as (1) an excellent leaving group, (2) an electron-donating or an electron-withdrawing group, (3) an anion precursor, and (4) a radical precursor. It confers unique physicochemical properties to its immediate vicinity on various molecular scaffolds. This review covers the preparation and synthetic utility of versatile benzotriazole derivatives. The selected compounds are conveniently prepared from 1H-benzotriazole and are characterized by a huge synthetic potential. Their specific reactivity is discussed and illustrated with various examples ranging from methodology in organic chemistry to the total synthesis of complex structures.

Preparation, Reactivity, and Synthetic Utility of Simple Benzotriazole Derivatives

https://chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ejoc.202100064

Bart Schuddinck

Papers

Feruloylbenzotriazole and Weinreb Amide as Bioinspired Building Blocks: A Reactivity Study towards O-, N-, S-, and C-Nucleophiles