Toxicity and Synergic Repellency of Plant Essential Oil Mixtures With Vanillin Against Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae)

In all triplicate tests of six plant essential oils and of vanillin mixtures, we corroborated strong insecticidal and repellent activities against adult Aedes aegypti (L.). Essential oils with potent toxic fumigant activities also exhibited repellency. Compared with N, N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide, 5% of the essential oil concentrations of cassia, lemongrass, lemon eucalyptus, and xanthoxylum oils did not show repellent effects. However, a composition of lemongrass oil, xanthoxylum oil, and vanillin (1:3:1, vol:vol:wt) provided 270 min of complete protection time (CPT) compared with 247.5 min CPT with 15% N, N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide. The CPT depended on concentration, presence of vanillin, or on both factors. When we applied a mixture of lemongrass oil: xanthoxylum oil: vanillin (1:1:1, vol: vol: wt) to the Viscopearl formulation, or porous cellulose beads, it provided gradual release of volatile compounds, thus showing >90% of repellency for 2 h. The behavioral and electrophysiological approaches we drew upon in our current study demonstrated that plant essential oil mixtures combined with vanillin showed strong and durable repellency to the mosquito. We claim that such combinations of plant essential oils and vanillin found in current study propose a viable commercial product suitable for future application in protecting a person from mosquito bites.