"Information Pheromones?"

Inside the office.

Looking at Tian Liangwei's surprised expression, Xu Yun nodded confidently.

"That's right, I believe the breakthrough point for the fourth generation pyrethroid is information pheromones."

Tian Liangwei pushed his glasses lightly, his expression becoming serious and confused.

"Tell me more. Xu, don't tell me that your method is simply mixing information pheromones and pyrethroids together. I can buy twenty pieces of adhesive boards with moth pheromones for ten yuan on Taobao."

Information pheromones, also known as external hormones.

They refer to substances secreted by an individual and perceived by other individuals of the same species through olfactory organs, causing the latter to exhibit changes in behavior, emotions, psychology, or physiology.

For example, human adults emit information pheromones, and there is even a perfume called pheromone for sale.

Currently, there is still controversy in the scientific community regarding the specific composition of human pheromones. However, the substances with higher acceptance are androstenone for males and estratetraenol for females.

The most abundant areas of information pheromones are the armpits and groin. You can smell these two areas and see if they have a different scent compared to other parts of your body.

When Xu Yun was in high school, he had a friend who always said that there was a girl in their class who smelled really good. Out of curiosity, Xu Yun tried to take a breath while lining up for physical exercise.

Oh boy, it had a faint body odor.

This is the difference in feedback from pheromones. People who like it really like it, while those who don't feel anything are repulsed.

So, in a sense, saying "your armpit smells good" is actually a romantic phrase...

In the field of pest control, the use of insect pheromones is quite extensive.

The advantage of pheromones is their strong target specificity, not harming natural enemies, and no pesticide residue risk. The disadvantage is their strong target specificity, being ineffective against other pests, and only effective against adult insects, not larvae.

Therefore, information pheromones currently have relatively high limitations and are considered as an auxiliary method.

It means using this thing to attract insects, then trapping them with adhesive boards or boxes, and then proceeding to the next step.

A more advanced method is to mix information pheromones with biological toxins, knead them together like dough, and then attract the target to eat the poisoned bait...

Facing Tian Liangwei's concerns, Xu Yun poured him a cup of tea and then said:

"Teacher, I understand what you mean. Don't worry, I'm not exploring some conceptual loophole."

Then he took out a pen and paper from his pocket and started writing while explaining:

"My idea is, can we combine information pheromones and pyrethroids through a certain synthesis technique to create a new potent poison?

For example, it would have the attracting function of information pheromones and the multi-generational transmission effect of pyrethroids. In other words, the information pheromones would spread along with the diffusion of pyrethroids."

Looking at the lines of writing on the paper, Tian Liangwei vaguely understood:

"Synthesizing a new type of poison? I think I understand what you mean.

Ordinary mixed drugs attract targets through information pheromones, and after they ingest the poison, it spreads and infects. But due to the lack of information pheromones, the effect of multi-round transmission is usually not ideal.

But your idea, Xu, is to make the poison also have the effect of information pheromones. After the target leaves the bait, it becomes a new bait that emits information pheromones, and it can even transmit through multiple generations?"

Xu Yun nodded and affirmed:

"That's right, that's the direction I believe the fourth or even fifth generation pyrethroids should take."

Tian Liangwei pondered carefully, his expression still somewhat pessimistic:

"It seems theoretically feasible, but there are many technical problems that need to be solved.

Firstly, the target is too specific. The information pheromones of one insect species can only be effective against the adults of that species. For example, the adhesive board I mentioned earlier can only capture moths, and other flies and mosquitoes can't be caught.

Secondly, synthesizing it requires breaking through the corresponding information barriers, which is extremely difficult. Otherwise, those well-known companies or laboratories would have already done it."

As he spoke, Tian Liangwei couldn't help but shake his head.

As he said, almost all current information pheromone poisons are produced through physical mixing.

It's not that the production companies are stupid, but because they can't create a completely new substance by combining information pheromones with biological toxins.

As an authoritative figure in the domestic biomedicine field, Tian Liangwei naturally understood how difficult it is to synthesize information pheromones and biological toxins. Currently, companies like Bayer, Pfizer, Roche, and Novartis are all conducting research in this direction.

The breakthrough in this technology may not cause much of a stir in the scientific community. It won't even touch the Nobel Prize, let alone the Caliph Prize or the Lasker Award. However, the market behind it is not a small number.

Of course.

Most of these laboratories are combining targets that are not pyrethroids but the third-generation fipronil.

After all, in those cutting-edge laboratories, pyrethroids are like comparing *** to Mr. Sanjo, not belonging to the same era.

Looking at Tian Liangwei, who seemed to be reminded of something unpleasant, Xu Yun appeared calm. He wrote another line on the paper:

"Teacher, take a look at this."

Tian Liangwei subconsciously looked at the paper and after a while, he hesitated:

"This is... methylated alkanes?"

Xu Yun nodded and drew a line in the middle of one of the CH3, representing its removal.Tian Liangwei gave a light gasp:

"Monohand methyl?"

Xu Yun continued to write out a line of text:

CH3(CH2)2CH=CHCH=CH(CH2)8CH3, [Ru(p-cymene)_2Cl_2]_2, (HCHO)n, ZnBr_2, CH_3COON, DCE(CH2CLCH2CL), and a pyridine functional group.

"Teacher, do you think this reaction could be successful?"

Looking at the line of text that Xu Yun had written, Tian Liangwei was first taken aback, then quickly grabbed a pen and rapidly calculated on paper and in his mind:

"Remove a CH3... C-H bond cyclization... Direct cleavage of the substrate carbon-hydrogen bond through transition metal catalysis?

The directing group forms the intermediate C-M... Eh? It seems like it could really undergo selective hydroxymethylation with pyridine?"

As is well known.

Hydroxymethyl functional groups are widely present in drugs and bioactive small molecules. They undergo nucleophilic addition to aldehydes, yielding corresponding alcohols, ethers, or esters.

If you remove a CH3 from the top right corner of the pheromone alkane, theoretically, it could form a compound with pyridine under the catalysis of ruthenium.

Of course.

This is just a possibility in theory, and the operation has a high degree of uncertainty.

Looking at his increasingly serious teacher, Xu Yun continued:

"As for your first point... indeed, pheromones have a drawback.

That is, the target of a pheromone is always only one kind of organism. Moths are moths, fruit flies are fruit flies, they can't communicate with each other, and no one can change this.

So... why don't we simply do a targeted selection?"

"Targeted selection?"

Tian Liangwei lifted his eyelids and looked at Xu Yun:

"What do you mean by that?"

"It means to only research in one direction, and ignore the others."

Search bit.ly/3iBfjkV for the original.

Xu Yun spread his hands towards his teacher and laughed:

"The field of biological toxins is so vast, we don't need to and can't cover it all. Since that's the case, why don't we choose a particularly harmful pest and develop a specific insecticide for it?"

"Indeed, there are many pests in agriculture. If you kill the golden needle worm, there are still lantern moths, and if you kill the lantern moths, there are still cotton bolls. It's hard for agricultural products to completely get rid of pests unless they are all eliminated. But besides agriculture, there are also many pests in our living areas. Killing one of these pests would solve a big problem, and the cost-effectiveness is much higher than in agriculture."

"Once this new compound is produced, a certain pest might even be eradicated to the point of becoming a protected animal, the kind that the next generation can only see in zoos."

"For example..."

"Cockroaches!"