Insect repellents of natural origin: catnip and osage orange

Abstract

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Comparison of Contact and Spatial Repellency of Catnip Oil and <I>N</I>,<I>N</I>-Diethyl-3-methylbenzamide (Deet) Against Mosquitoes

“…Direct comparison of the attraction of catnip oil in competition against deet shows that deet is more attractive (Table 4). These Þndings support previous observations (Peterson 2001) that mosquitoes prefer a deet-coated surface over a nepetalactone-coated surface. Both carbon dioxide and the binary blend of lactic acid and acetone are much less preferred when combined with catnip oil than when combined with deet.…”

“…One possible basis for the use of catnip by felids might be for defense against mosquito attack (Weldon 2003, Weldon et al 2003, and if so, other species, e.g., humans, may beneÞt from this means of protection against predators by concealment or cloaking of odors (Eisner et al 1978). Nepetalactone, a primary component of catnip oil, has been reported recently to repel cockroaches (Peterson et al 2002) and mosquitoes (Peterson 2001).…”

“…In our triple cage, dual-port olfactometer system (Posey et al 1998), we test for attractants and can test for attraction inhibition by combination of the candidate inhibitor with established attractants (Bernier et al 2001). Peterson (2001) found that in laboratory bioassays with a glass tube olfactometer, Ae. aegypti were less likely to land on the side that contained deposited nepetalactone compared with the side that had deet.…”

Catnip Essential Oil and Its Nepetalactone Isomers as Repellents for Mosquitoes

“…Our first report on quantifying the repellency utilized a choice arena, with treated and untreated sides, with individual male German cockroaches (6). We first reported on the mosquito-repellent activity of the essential oil of catnip and of the two principal isomers of nepetalactone in 2001 (9)(10)(11). Quwenling and citronella are other monoterpenoid-based products that were marketed as mosquito repellents.…”

“…Analysis of this oil determined that it consisted of 97.5% Z,E-nepetalactone, 0.8% E,Z-nepetalactone and 1.7% of an unknown. E,Z-Nepetalactone was purified from the catnip essential oil by preparative 60 thin-layer chromatography as previously described (10). Diethyl-m-toluamide (DEET, 97%) was purchased from Aldrich Chemical Co., Milwaukee, WI.…”