Synthesis and acaricidal activity against Varroa destructor of α- and γ-costic acid dimers

• Alessandro Santarsiere,
• Ernesto Santoro,
• Maria Letizia Ciavatta,
• Marianna Carbone,
• Sonia Ganassi,
• Cosimo Tedino,
• Antonio De Cristofaro,
• Antonio Evidente and
• Stefano Superchi

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 1088–1096, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.87

• populations in just a few years, resulting in substantial environmental and economic losses. This study reports the synthesis of α- and γ-costic acid diesters with ethylene glycol and evaluates their acaricidal efficacy against V. destructor in comparison with their parent acids. Although the resulting dimers

• were approximately 50% less active than the parent costic acids, they exhibited higher potency than the previously reported α-costic acid methyl ester. Among all, γ-costic acid, whose acaricidal activity is reported here for the first time, shows the highest activity with mortality higher than 90

• are currently associated with significant yield losses and extensive reliance on synthetic pesticides. Keywords: acaricidal activity; α-costic acid; γ-costic acid; diesters; Varroa destructor; Introduction 11(13)-Eudesman-12-oic acids are sesquiterpene plant metabolites widely distributed in nature