Toxicity of Methyl Benzoate and Analogs to Adult Aedes aegypti

Methyl benzoate is a natural product (floral volatile organic compound) that is currently used as a food flavoring ingredient. This compound has shown to be insecticidal in laboratory studies against agricultural and urban pests, including spotted wing drosophila Drosophila suzukii, brown marmorated stink bug Hyalomorpha halys, the diamondback moth Plutella xylostella, and the common bed bug Cimex lectularius, to name several insect taxa. In this study we topically treated adult Aedes aegypti females with methyl benzoate and analogs and determined their toxicities. We found that among adult females, 4 analogs—butyl benzoate, n-pentyl benzoate, vinyl benzoate, and methyl 3-methoxybenzoate—were more toxic than the parent compound, methyl benzoate.