Thiamethoxam is the ISO common name for a mixture of cis-trans isomers used as a systemic insecticide of the neonicotinoid class. It has a broad spectrum of activity against many types of insects and can be used as a seed dressing.
A 2018 review by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concluded that most uses of neonicotinoid pesticides such as Thiamethoxam represent a risk to wild bees and honeybees. In 2022 the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded that Thiamethoxam is likely to adversely affect 77 percent of federally listed endangered or threatened species and 81 percent of critical habitats. The pesticide has been banned for all outdoor use in the entire European Union since 2018, but has a partial approval in the U.S. and other parts of the world, where it is widely used.
Thiamethoxam was developed by Ciba-Geigy (now Syngenta) in 1991 and launched in 1998; a patent dispute arose with Bayer which already had patents covering other neonicotinoids including imidacloprid and clothianidin. In 2002 the dispute was settled, with Syngenta paying Bayer $120 million in exchange for worldwide rights to thiamethoxam.
Thiamethoxam was first prepared by chemists at Ciba Geigy in 1991. S-Methyl-N-nitro-isothiourea is treated with methylamine to give N-methyl nitroguanidine. This intermediate is used in a Mannich reaction with formaldehyde in formic acid to give 3-methyl-4-nitroimino-1,3,5-oxadiazinane. In the final step, the heterocycle is N-alkylated with a thiazole derivative to give a mixture of E and Z isomers of the final product.
Thiamethoxam is a broad-spectrum, systemic insecticide, which means it is absorbed quickly by plants and transported to all of its parts, including pollen, where it acts to deter insect feeding. An insect can absorb it in its stomach after feeding, or through direct contact, including through its tracheal system. The compound gets in the way of information transfer between nerve cells by interfering with nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the central nervous system, and eventually paralyzes the muscles of the insects.
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Clothianidin is an insecticide developed by Takeda Chemical Industries and Bayer AG. Similar to thiamethoxam and imidacloprid, it is a neonicotinoid. Neonicotinoids are a class of insecticides that are chemically similar to nicotine, which has been used as a pesticide since the late 1700s. Clothianidin and other neonicotinoids act on the central nervous system of insects as an agonist of nAChR, the same receptor as acetylcholine, the neurotransmitter that stimulates and activating post-synaptic acetylcholine receptors but not inhibiting AChE.
Colony collapse disorder (CCD) is an abnormal phenomenon that occurs when the majority of worker bees in a honey bee colony disappear, leaving behind a queen, plenty of food, and a few nurse bees to care for the remaining immature bees. While such disappearances have occurred sporadically throughout the history of apiculture, and have been known by various names (including disappearing disease, spring dwindle, May disease, autumn collapse, and fall dwindle disease), the syndrome was renamed colony collapse disorder in early 2007 in conjunction with a drastic rise in reports of disappearances of western honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies in North America.
Insecticides are pesticides used to kill insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against insect eggs and larvae, respectively. Insecticides are used in agriculture, medicine, industry and by consumers. Insecticides are claimed to be a major factor behind the increase in the 20th-century's agricultural productivity. Nearly all insecticides have the potential to significantly alter ecosystems; many are toxic to humans and/or animals; some become concentrated as they spread along the food chain.
Due to conservation of neuronal functioning across phyla, molecular targets of insecticides are similar in insects and vertebrates. Insecticides thus pose a risk to aquatic vertebrates,such as fish, and potentially cause neurotoxic effects. Although these ...
Neonicotinoids are widely used insecticides that have frequently been found in freshwater with concentrations ranging from ng to mu g/L. It is known that these compounds impact non-target invertebrates, such as bees and gammaridae, in terms of toxicity and ...
pesticides. A high number of pesticides are known as endocrine disrupting chemicals or having a supposed or verified carcinogenic effect. These toxic compounds are found in the environment, in water or in food. Once in our organism these molecules can be m ...