Research progress of piperazine and morpholine derivatives in the discovery of agricultural chemicals

Abstract Piperazine and morpholine are important heterocyclic structures, which are widely used in the discovery of agrochemicals. Piperazine and morpholine rings are often used as active substructures or bridges to design and synthesize new agrochemicals. In the past decade, piperazine and morpholine compounds have made rapid progress in the research and development of new pesticides, especially in the discovery of fungicides and antibacterial agents. In the future, more piperazine and morpholine pesticides may be commercialized. However, there is no comprehensive review on the use of piperazine and morpholine derivatives in the creation of new agrochemicals. Therefore, we systematically reviewed the application of piperazine and morpholine active compounds in the creation of new pesticides in the past 12 years. This paper not only summarizes the biological activities of piperazine and morpholine compounds, but also discusses the structure–activity relationship, physiological and biochemical changes, and mechanism of action. This work aims to provide inspiration and ideas for the discovery of new agrochemicals of piperazine and morpholine.