Quantitative structure-activity relationships of pine weevil antifeedants, a Multivariate approach

Antifeedant activity of mainly phenylpropanoic, cinnamic, and benzoic acids esters was tested on the pine weevil, Hylobius abiefis (L.). Of 105 compounds screened for activity, 9 phenylpropanoates, 3 cinnamates, and 4 benzoates were found to be highly active antifeeclants. To understand the structure-activity relationships of these compounds, a multivariate analysis study was performed. A number of molecular and substituent descriptors were calculated and correlated to results from two-choice feeding tests with H. abietis. Three local models were developed that had good internal predictive ability. External test sets showed moderate predictivity. In general, low polarity, small size, and high lipophilicity were characteristics for compounds having good antifeeclant activity.