Synthesis, Nematicidal Evaluation, and the Structure-Activity Relationship Study of Aurone Derivatives

Plant-parasitic nematodes (PPNs) are one of the majorthreats tomodern agriculture. Chemical nematicides are still required for themanagement of PPNs. Based on our previous work, the structure of auroneanalogues was obtained using a hybrid 3D similarity calculation method(SHAFTS, SHApe-FeaTure Similarity). Thirty-seven compounds were synthesized.The nematicidal activity of target compounds against Meloidogyne incognita (root-knot nematode, M. incognita) was evaluated, and the structure-activityrelationship of synthesized compounds was analyzed. The results showedthat compound 6 and some of its derivatives exhibitedimpressive nematicidal activity. Among these compounds, compound 32 bearing 6-F showed the best in vitro and in vivo nematicidal activity. Its lethal concentration 50%after exposure to 72 h (LC50/72 h) value was 1.75mg/L, and the inhibition rate reached 97.93% in the sand at 40 mg/L.At the same time, compound 32 also exhibited excellentinhibition on egg hatching and moderate inhibition on the motilityof Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans).