Synthesis, insecticidal activities and SAR studies of novel anthranilic diamides containing trifluoroethoxyl substituent and chiral amino acid moieties

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/j.cclet.2017.10.022

Ryanodine receptors (RyRs) activator has become one class of popular insecticide because of its unique mode of action. In order to find more new RyRs activators as insecticidal agents, a series of 18 novel chiral anthranilic diamides were designed by introducing the D-alanine acid and D-serine acid esters as well as trifluoroethoxyl group into the anthranilic diamide skeleton and synthesized successfully based on anthranilic diamide and FKI-1033 structures. The structures of the title compounds Ia–i and IIa–i were confirmed by melting points, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, elemental analysis and specific optical rotation analysis. The preliminary bioassay results indicated that most of the title compounds exhibited considerable larvicidal activities against oriental armyworm at 10 mg/L, especially Ib, Ie and IIh showed remarkable insecticidal activities at 0.5 mg/L. The larvicidal activity against diamondback moth of Ia and IId were 80% and 90% respectively at 0.0001 mg/L, which was similar to that of chlorantraniliprole. The relationship between structure and insecticidal activity was analyzed to reveal a possible co-regulated effect of the chiral amino acid ester, halogen atom or cyano group, and trifluoroethyloxyl group of the skeleton structures of the title compounds, which will provide useful information for guiding the design and discovery of new RyRs activators and insecticidal agrochemicals.

Full text of DOI:10.1016/j.cclet.2017.10.022

Accepted Manuscript
Title: Synthesis, insecticidal activities and SAR studies of
novel anthranilic diamides containing trifluoroethoxyl
substituent and chiral amino acid moieties
Authors: Shaa Zhou, Sha Zhou, Yongtao Xie, Xiangde Meng,
Baolei Wang, Lixia Xiong, Na Yang, Zhengming Li
PII:
DOI:
Reference:
S1001-8417(17)30439-4
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cclet.2017.10.022
CCLET 4295
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Chinese Chemical Letters
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Revised date:
Accepted date:
7-8-2017
16-10-2017
18-10-2017
Please cite this article as: Shaa Zhou, Sha Zhou, Yongtao Xie, Xiangde
Meng, Baolei Wang, Lixia Xiong, Na Yang, Zhengming Li, Synthesis,
insecticidal activities and SAR studies of novel anthranilic diamides containing
trifluoroethoxyl substituent and chiral amino acid moieties, Chinese Chemical
Letters https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cclet.2017.10.022
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Communication
Synthesis, insecticidal activities and SAR studies of novel anthranilic diamides
containing trifluoroethoxyl substituent and chiral amino acid moieties
Shaa Zhou, Sha Zhou, Yongtao Xie, Xiangde Meng, Baolei Wang, Lixia Xiong, Na Yang, Zhengming Li
State Key Laboratory of Elemento-Organic Chemistry, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), College of
Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China

Corresponding author. E-mail address: nkzml@vip.163.com (Z. Li)
Graphical Abstract
Synthesis, insecticidal activities and SAR studies of novel anthranilic diamides containing trifluoroethoxyl substituent and chiral
amino acid moieties
Shaa Zhou, Sha Zhou, Yongtao Xie, Xiangde Meng, Baolei Wang, Lixia Xiong, Na Yang, Zhengming Li*
State Key Laboratory of Elemento-Organic Chemistry, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering
(Tianjin), College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
Based on the structures of ryanodine receptors (RyRs) activators anthranilic diamide insecticidal agents and FKI-1033, a series of 18 novel trifluoroethoxyl-
containing chiral anthranilic diamides Ia-i and IIa-i were synthesized. Their insecticidal activities were evaluated systematically and the SAR was discussed.
ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received Received in revised form Accepted Available online
ABSTRACT
Ryanodine receptors (RyRs) activator has become one class of popular insecticide because of its unique mode of action. In order to find more new
RyRs activators as insecticidal agents, a series of 18 novel chiral anthranilic diamides were designed by introducing the D-alanine acid and D-serine
acid esters as well as trifluoroethoxyl group into the anthranilic diamide skeleton and synthesized successfully based on anthranilic diamide and FKI-
1
13
1
033 structures. The structures of the title compounds Ia-i and IIa-i were confirmed by melting points, H NMR, C NMR, elemental analysis and
specific optical rotation analysis. The preliminary bioassay results indicated that most of the title compounds exhibited considerable larvicidal activities
against oriental armyworm at 10 mg/L, especially Ib, Ie and IIh showed remarkable insecticidal activities at 0.5 mg/L. The larvicidal activity against
diamondback moth of Ia and IId were 80% and 90% respectively at 0.0001 mg/L, which was similar to that of chlorantraniliprole. The relationship
between structure and insecticidal activity was analyzed to reveal a possible co-regulated effect of the chiral amino acid ester, halogen atom or cyano
group, and trifluoroethyloxyl group of the skeleton structures of the title compounds, which will provide useful information for guiding the design and
discovery of new RyRs activators and insecticidal agrochemicals
Keywords:Chiral anthranilic diamides Trifluoroethoxyl Synthesis Insecticidal activity Ryanodine receptor
As one class of Ca2+ release channel, ryanodine receptors (RyRs) closely relate to activities inside the insect body [1]. Owing to the
unique mode of action towards RyRs, flubendiamide [2,3], chlorantraniliprole [3,4] and cyantraniliprole [5] have been developed as

three novel insecticides successively since 1999. They exert their pesticidal efficacy through the persistent release of intracellular Ca2+
ion, which ultimately leads to the death of insects. Among those three RyRs insecticides, chlorantraniliprole and cyantraniliprole (Fig.
1
, A) both possess an anthranilic diamide structure containing a bromopyrazole ring linked with a chloropyridyl moiety. Due to their
excellent insecticidal and eco-friendly properties, the studies on various modifications of such structures have received considerable
attention in the last decade [6-12].
It was reported that more than half of commercial pesticides are fluorinated among which 50% percentage are insecticides and
acaricides, during 2010-2016 [13]. This situation may be because that the introduction of fluorine atom could greatly influence the
biological activities of the parent molecule owing to the good hydrophobility, permeability, stability and combining ability of the
fluorinated compound [14]. For example, novel insecticides and acaricides sulfoxaflor [15], flupyradifurone [16] and pyflubumide [17]
all have fluorine-containing substituents just as flubendiamide (contains a heptafluoroisopropyl group). Moreover, some
trifluoroethoxyl-containing anthranilic diamide derivatives, e.g., compound B in Fig. 1, also exhibited perfect insecticidal activities
against M. separate, P. xylostella, etc. [10,18-19].
In addition, FKI-1033 (Fig. 1, C) was reported to have activation effect on RyRs and exhibited insecticidal activity [20]. Based on
the structural features of chiral α-amino acid ester moieties in FKI-1033, and chiral amide moiety in compound D (Fig. 1) that were
derived from our recent researches, the D-amino acid moieties were considered to be favorable for retaining insecticidal activity [7,21].
In view of all those information mentioned above, a series of new anthranilic diamides containing trifluoroethoxyl and chiral amino
acid moieties were synthesized as showed in Fig. 1. The insecticidal activities of the new compounds against oriental armyworm and
diamondback moth were evaluated. The preliminary structure-activity relationship (SAR) was also discussed.
The melting points were determined on an X-4 binocular microscope melting point apparatus (Beijing Tech Instrument Co., Beijing,
1
13
China) and were uncorrected. H NMR and C NMR spectra were recorded at 400 MHz using a Bruker AV 400 spectrometer (Bruker
Co., Switzerland) in CDCl or DMSO-d solution with tetramethylsilane (TMS) as the internal standard. Elemental analyses were
3
6
performed on a Vario EL elemental analyzer (Elementar Co., Germany). Optical rotations were measured with a PerkinElmer 341
polarimeter (PE-PerkinElmer Co., Ltd, U.S.A.). Column chromatography purification was carried out using silica gel (200-300 mesh).
All chemical reagents and solvents were of analytical grade.
3
-(2,2,2-Trifluoroethoxy)-1-(3-chloropyridin-2-yl)-1H-pyrazole-5-carboxylic acid 6 was synthesized referring to literature (Scheme
S1 in Supporting information) [17]. The chiral amino acid esters 9a-f were obtained by the reaction of corresponding D-amino acid
with various alcohols (Scheme S2 in Supporting information) [22].
2
-(3-(2,2,2-Trifluoroethoxy)-1-(3-chloropyridin-2-yl)-1H-pyrazol-5-yl)-6-chloro-8-methyl-4H-benzo[d][1,3]oxazin-4-one 11a was
obtained by reported procedure [19]. 3-(2,2,2-Trifluoroethoxy)-1-(3-chloropyridin-2-yl)-1H-pyrazole-5-carboxylic acid 6 (10 mmol)
and 2-amino-5-chloro-3-methylbenzoic acid 10a (10 mmol) were added into 25 mL of acetonitrile, the mixture was dissolved after the
addition of 4 mL of pyridine. And then, 2 mL of methanesulfonyl chloride was added slowly in ice-bath and stirred overnight. After
completion of the reaction, the mixture was filtered and the residual solid was the target compound 11a. The compounds 11b and 11c
were prepared according to 11a via an “one-pot” method.
(R)-Methyl
2-(2-(3-trifluoroethoxyl-1-(3-chloropyridin-2-yl)-1H-pyrazole-5-carbox-amido)-5-chloro-3-
methylbenzamido)propanoate Ia was prepared referring to the following procedure (Scheme S3 in Supporting information) [23]. 2-(3-
Trifluoroethoxyl-1-(3-chloropyridin-2-yl)-1H-pyrazol-5-yl)-6-chloro-8-methyl-4H-benzo[1,3]-oxazin-4-one 11a (1.0 mmol) and (R)-
methyl 2-aminopropanoate hydrochloride 9a (1.2 mmol) was mixed with 10 mL of tetrahydrofuran, followed by the addition of
triethylamine (2.5 mmol). The reaction mixture was stirred overnight. After completion of the reaction, the mixture was filtered and the
filtrate was evaporated in vacuum and purified on silica gel eluting with petroleum/ethyl acetate (1:1, v/v) to give Ia. Compounds Ib-i
were synthesized using similar procedure to that of Ia.
Using intermediates 11(a-c) and 9(d-f) as materials with similar procedure for Ia, the title compounds (5-substitued-2-(1-(3-
chloropyridin-2-yl)-3-(2,2,2-trifluoroethoxy)-1H-pyrazole-5-carboxamido)-3-methylbenzoyl)serinate II(a-i) were obtained (Scheme
S3).
All of the title compounds were identified by melting points, H NMR, 13C NMR, elemental analysis and specific optical rotation
1
1
analysis (Supporting information). In the H NMR spectra of compounds Ia-i and IIa-i, the proton signals of two amide groups
“
−NHCO−” appeared at δ 10.42−9.75 as a singlet peak and δ 8.52−8.40 as a dd peak, respectively. The protons in trifluoroethoxyl
group (−OCH CF
) were observed at δ 4.72−4.62 as a mixed peak with the tertiary hydrogen (-CH) in chiral carbon. From the 13
NMR spectra of the title compounds, it was found that both of the carbons in –OCH CF group were split by the fluorine atoms as
quartet, with the coupling constant (J) showed up at 35 Hz for CH and 278 Hz for CF , respectively. From the specific optical rotation
analysis, all of the title compounds were dextrorotatory except Ic, If, IIe, IIf and IIh.
2
3
C
2
3
2
3
All of the biological assays were experimented on representative test organisms reared in laboratory. The test insects were cultured
according to literatures [24-25]. The bioassay was replicated at 25 ± 1 °C according to statistical requirements. Assessments were
based on a dead/alive scale, and mortality rates were rectified by Abbott’s formula [26]. Evaluation was based on a percentage scale of
0
−100, where 0 equals no activity and 100 equals total kill. Error of the experiments was kept within 5%. For comparative purposes,
chlorantraniliprole was tested as a control under the same conditions.

The insecticidal activities of compounds Ia-i, IIa-i and chlorantraniliprole against oriental armyworm (M. separata) were evaluated
using reported procedure [27]. For the foliar armyworm tests, individual corn leaves were placed on moistened pieces of filter paper in
Petri dishes. The leaves were then sprayed with the test solution and allowed to dry. The dishes were infested with 10 third-instar
oriental armyworm larvae. Percentage mortalities were evaluated 2 days after treatment. Each treatment was performed three times.
The insecticidal activities of all the title compounds against oriental armyworm (M. separata) are listed in Table S1 (Supporting
information). It was found that all of the newly synthesized compounds Ia-i and IIa-i exhibited remarkable activities against oriental
armyworm, e.g., Ia-f, Ih, IIa, IId and IIh possessed larvicidal activities of 100% at the test concentration of 10 mg/L. In particular, the
larvicidal activities of Ia, Ib, Ie, IId and IIh still displayed mortality rates of 100% at lower concentration, such as 2.5 mg/L. At 1
mg/L, Ia and IId exhibited 60% and 70% insecticidal activity, respectively. Pleasingly, Ib, Ie and IIh could lead to the total death
(100%) of the test oriental armyworm larvae under such conditions. Moreover, Ib, Ie and IIh remained high larvicidal activities even
at 0.5 mg/L concentration, with lethality rate of 60%, 20% and 60%, respectively. On the whole, for the methyl and ethyl esters of D-
alanine acid and isopropyl ester of D-serine acid of the title compounds, when the R group was Br, their insecticidal activities towards
1
oriental armyworm could be well retained. When R was fixed as Cl atom, methyl ester of D-alanine acid and ethyl ester of D-serine
1
acid were superior to others; when R was fixed as Br, methyl esters of D-alanine acid were more effective than D-serine acid.
Surprisingly, the sequence of insecticidal activity was reversed in the case of isopropyl esters derivatives. The LC50 and LC95 values of
compounds Ib, Ie and chlorantraniliprole against oriental armyworm (M. separate) are listed in Table 1. From the results, LC50 of
-
4
-4
compounds Ib and Ie were 4.68 × 10 mol/L and 9.62 × 10 mol/L, which exhibited lower efficacy against M. separate than the
-
4
-3
-3
control chlorantraniliprole (1.37 × 10 mol/L). Similarly, the LC95 of Ib, Ie and chlorantraniliprole were 1.71 × 10 mol/L, 2.68 × 10
-
3
mol/L and 0.67 × 10 mol/L that there is a gap in the biological activities against oriental armyworm (M. separate) between target
compounds Ib, Ie and chlorantraniliprole. In spite of being less active than the control chlorantraniliprole at this preliminary research,
the promising compounds Ib, Ie and IIh may be made further structural optimization for the discovery of novel insecticidal
agrochemical based on these useful clues.
The insecticidal activities of Ia, Ib, Ie, IId and IIh whose mortality rates were 100% against oriental armyworm at 2.5 mg/L were
further tested against diamondback moth (P. xylostella) by the leafdip method [28,29]. A solution of each test sample in DMSO at a
concentration of 200 mg/Lwas prepared and then diluted to the required concentration with water (distilled). Leaf disks (6 cm × 2 cm)
were cut from fresh cabbage leaves and then were sprayed with the test solution for 3 s and allowed to dry. The treated leaf disks were
placed individually into glass tubes. Each disk was infested with 30 second-instar diamondback moth larvae. Percentage mortalities
were evaluated 2 days after treatment. Each treatment was performed in triplicate.
The insecticidal activities of the title compounds Ia, Ib, Ie, IId and IIh against diamondback moth (P. xylostella) are listed in Table
2
. We can see that all of the tested compounds exhibited mortality rate of 100% against diamondback moth at 2.5 mg/L concentration.
Especially, at the lower concentration of 0.0001 mg/L Ia and IId still held larvicidal activities of 80% and 90%, respectively, which
result nears to that of chlorantraniliprole. It was found that when the R group was fixed as Cl, the compounds showed favorable
activity for D-alanine acid methyl ester and D-serine acid ethyl ester towards diamondback moth. Anyhow, this type of compounds are
well worth for further study due to their excellent insecticidal activities.
In summary, 18 novel anthranilic diamide compounds containing trifluoroethoxyl group and chiral amino acid moieties were designed,
synthesized and evaluated for insecticidal activities against oriental armyworm (M. separata) and diamondback moth (P. xylostella).
Most of the title compounds were found to have considerable larvicidal activities towards oriental armyworm, especially Ib and IIh
held mortality rate of 60% at 0.5 mg/L. The derivatives with methyl or ethyl ester of D-alanine acid and isopropyl ester of D-serine acid
with Br atom of R group could achieve high insecticidal activity against oriental armyworm. For the bioassay against diamondback
moth, Ia and IId exhibited 80%−90% super high larvicidal activity even at the test concentration of 0.0001 mg/L. The test results
indicated that D-alanine acid methyl ester and D-serine acid ethyl ester with Cl of R group could retain the similar insecticidal activities
as that of chlorantraniliprole against diamondback moth. From the whole results of biological assay, the insecticidal activities of these
title compounds may be co-regulated by both chiral amino acid ester and halogen or cyano groups (X group), comparing with previous
studies [7]. In addition, the introduction of fluorine-containing group could efficiently retain the high insecticidal activity of such chiral
anthranilic diamide compounds. This preliminary research will undoubtedly provide useful information for developing new RyRs
activators and insecticidal agrochemicals.
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21772103, 21602118), the National Key
Research and Development Program of China (No. 2017YFD0200505) and Tianjin Natural Science Foundation (No.
1
7JCYBJC19900).
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Fig. 1. Design strategy of the title compounds.
Table 1
LC50 and LC95 values of compounds Ib and Ie against oriental armyworm (M. separata).
Correlation
LC50
LC95
Compound
Toxicity equation
coefficient
-
4
-3
(
× 10 mol/L) (× 10 mol/L)
2
(
R )
Ib
Ie
Y = 6.2226 + 2.2676X
Y = 5.8008 + 3.6912X
Chlorantraniliprole Y = 7.8167 + 2.3918X
0.9563
0.9156
0.9831
4.68
9.62
1.37
1.71
2.68
0.67
Table 2
Insecticidal activities of the title compounds Ia, Ib, Ie, IId and IIh against diamondback moth (P. xylostella).
Compound
Larvicidal activity (%) (mg/L)
1
0.1
100
90
60
100
90
0.01
100
40
20
100
20
0.001
100
0.0001
80
Ia
Ib
Ie
IId
IIh
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
90
Chlorantraniliprole
100
100
100