Synthesis and photoactivated insecticidal activity of tetraethynylsilanes.

A series of tetraethynylsilanes (TETS) have been synthesized by reaction of silicon tetrachloride (SiCl(4)) with Ar-C triple bond CLi, which was prepared in situ by treatment of Ar-C triple bond CH with n-BuLi. For these TETS thus prepared, their photoactivated insecticidal activities against the 4th-instar larvae of Aedes albopictus (Skuse) were evaluated to enrich the structure-activity relationship. In particular, compound 8 exhibited excellent photoactivated insecticidal activity, the LC(50) value was 0.1346 mg L(-1) under UV light treatment and the irradiation-generated enhancement in the activity was more than 69.58-fold, thus could be exploitable as ideal analog candidates in the search for new photoactivated insecticide leads.