Synthesis, biological activity, and acaricidal mechanism of chiral 2,4-diphenyloxazolines

In addition to differences in effects on the target organism, chiral compounds also have different environmental behavior and even mechanisms of action in their two enantiomers. Examining the differences between these enantiomers facilitates the full evaluation and identification of potential pesticide candidates. In this work, we used a unique chiral synthesis approach to produce the enantiomers of many highly active acaricidal 2,4-diphenyloxazolines. We also looked at differences in acaricidal activity, the activity of certain compounds against non-target organisms, and used molecular docking modeling, enzyme activity testing, and resistance mite acaricidal activity testing to confirm that their acaricidal mechanism of action was the same as that of the commercial acaricide etoxazole. This study not only gives crucial data for the development of new chiral acaricides but also provides theoretical support for the future design and synthesis of oxazoline-based acaricides and chitin synthase 1 inhibitors. • A synthesis route was developed for chiral acaricidal 2,4-diphenyl-oxazolines • Both S-I-1 and R-I-1 have low toxicity to non-target species • The compounds were confirmed to be chitin synthase 1 inhibitors by multiple assays