Oriented synthesis and insecticidal activities of novel meta‐diamide scaffolds incorporating with 1,2,4‐triazole moiety

In an effort to discover a new insecticide, we designed and synthesized a series of novel meta ‐diamide compounds containing 1,2,4‐triazole with cyproflanilide as a lead compound. All the compounds were characterized by 1 H NMR, 13 C NMR, and HR‐MS. Both Plutella xylostella and Mythimna separata were tested for their insecticidal activity at 200 mg/L ( P. xylostella : 0%–100%; M. separata : 0%–100%), 20 mg/L ( P. xylostella : 0%–97%; M. separata : 0%–100%), and 2 mg/L ( P. xylostella : 0%–97%; M. separata : 0%–100%), while Aphis craccivora was tested for its insecticidal activity at 400 mg/L ( A. craccivora : 0%–36%). Further studies are needed to investigate the insecticidal activity of A. craccivora . Preliminary bioactivity results showed that most of the compounds had good insecticidal activity at 200 mg/L against P. xylostella and M. separata . Especially, the compound 7p , N ‐(cyclopropylmethyl)‐ N ‐(5‐((2,6‐dibromo‐4‐(perfluoropropan‐2‐yl)phenyl) carbamoyl)‐2‐(1 H ‐1,2,4‐triazol‐1‐yl)phenyl)‐6‐(trifluoromethyl)nicotinamide ( 7p ), showed good insecticidal activity at even lower doses of 2 mg/L ( P. xylostella : 97%; M. separata : 100%), which was equivalent to that of the lead compound cyproflanilide ( P. xylostella : 100%; M. separata : 100%), as well as significantly better than the two known compounds I a ( P. xylostella : 97%; M. separata : 0%) and I b ( P. xylostella : 60%; M. separata : 0%). Preliminary structure–activity relationship was also discussed based on insecticidal tests. The results indicate that meta ‐diamide compounds containing 1,2,4‐triazole can be developed as novel insecticides.