Advancing pest control: synthesis, toxicological and biochemical studies of imidazole compounds as prospective insecticidal agents

BACKGROUND: A number of novel imidazole compounds with a triaryl were created, manufactured, and tested for their insecticidal and acaricidal effects in an effort to find new agrochemicals with notable pesticidal qualities. RESULTS: One-pot four-component reactions of benzyl, aromatic aldehydes, ammonium acetate, pentylamine and/or allylamine in a 1:1:1:1 m ratio were developed to synthesize a series of 1-pentyl-2,4,5-trisubstututed-1H-imidazoles (5a-e) and 1-allyl-2,4,5-triaryl-1H-imidazole derivatives (5f-j). In addition, this process used a catalytic quantity of cheap and easily accessible p-toluenesulfonic acid, demonstrating its affordability and suitability for environmentally friendly synthesis. The insecticidal effectiveness of the target synthesized compounds against Spodoptera littorals species was assessed. CONCLUSION: ) of 4.926 mg/L for fourth-instar larvae and 7.241 mg/L for second-instar larvae, comparable with the commercial insecticide fipronil, bioassays demonstrated that compound 5i had a strong insecticidal effect. In addition, some biochemical characteristics of the produced molecules were examined, including total protein, total lipids, and glutathione S-transferase and acetylcholinesterase activity. © 2026 Society of Chemical Industry.