Natural products: a strategic lead generation approach in crop protection discovery

TLDR

The growing population, shifting regulations, and rising pesticide resistance create a continual need for new lead chemistries, and Corteva Agriscience has leveraged natural products for nearly three decades to develop crop protection products such as spinosyn insecticides and newer fungicides. The authors accelerate lead generation by exploiting the rich bioactivity of natural products, a strategy exemplified by numerous NP‑based crop protection compounds. They have established a portfolio of approaches to accelerate lead generation. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.

Abstract

With the anticipated population growth in the coming decades, the changing regulatory environment, and the continued emergence of resistance to commercial pesticides, there is a constant need to discover new lead chemistries with novel modes of action. We have established a portfolio of approaches to accelerate lead generation. One of these approaches capitalizes on the rich bioactivity of natural products (NPs), highlighted by the numerous examples of NP-based crop protection compounds. Within Corteva Agriscience and the affiliated preceding companies, NPs have been a fruitful approach, for nearly three decades, to identifying and bringing to the market crop protection products inspired by or originating from NPs, . Included in these NP-based crop protection products are the spinosyns family of insecticides, and those from more recent areas of NP-based fungicidal chemistry, as highlighted in this perspective. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.