Synthesis and photoactivated insecticidal activity of tetraethynylsilanes

A series of tetraethynylsilanes (TETS) have been synthesized by reaction of silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4) with Ar–CCLi, which was prepared in situ by treatment of Ar–CCH with n-BuLi. For these TETS thus prepared, their photoactivated insecticidal activities against the 4th-instar larvae of Aedes albopictus (Skuse) were evaluated to enrich the structure–activity relationship. In particular, compound 8 exhibited excellent photoactivated insecticidal activity, the LC50 value was 0.1346 mg L−1 under UV light treatment and the irradiation-generated enhancement in the activity was more than 69.58-fold, thus could be exploitable as ideal analog candidates in the search for new photoactivated insecticide leads.