Development of an eco-friendly mosquito larvicide for dengue/ chikungunya vector control

Development of an eco-friendly mosquito larvicide for dengue/ chikungunya vector control | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Development of an eco-friendly mosquito larvicide for dengue/ chikungunya vector control SUNDHARESAN MUNUSAMY, Irrusappan Hari, Balamurugan Mookiah, Shriram Ananganallur Nagarajan This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8770666/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 5 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This study used hydro-distillation to evaluate the larvicidal potential of essential oils (EOs) extracted from seven plant species against Aedes aegypti larvae. The chemical profiles of the volatile oils were characterized through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The major constituents identified were thymol (74.93%) in Plectranthus amboinicus leaves, terpinen-4-ol (27.13%) in Myristica fragrans nuts, citral (27.55%) in Citrus limon leaves, caryophyllene oxide (36.11%) in Hyptis suaveolens leaves, and asarone (85.51%) in Acorus calamus rhizomes. Larvicidal bioassays revealed LC 50 values below 50 ppm (23.40 to 47.34 ppm), with the order of efficacy being A. calamus > M. fragrans > T. ammi > I. verum > C. limon > H. suaveolens > P. amboinicus . Twenty-one binary and thirty-five ternary combinations were tested to determine synergistic, additive, and antagonistic interactions using Wadley's, Ting-Chao Chou, Co-Toxicity Factor, and Chi-square comparison methods. Binary combinations, such as P. amboinicus and M. fragrans and T. ammi and M. fragrans exhibited better synergism, this combination analysed by GC-MS, P. amboinicus and M. fragrans contains, carvacrol (36.23%), thymol (39.04%), and caryophyllene oxide (3.84%). Similarly, the combination of T. ammi and M. fragrans showed thymol (61.96%) and caryophyllene oxide (7.19%). Based on the essential oil yield and activity the T. ammi and M. fragrans binary combination formulated as soft-gel capsules, this formulation showed 100% larval mortality. Essential oil mixtures work very well, showing they could be good, eco-friendly options to replace chemical insecticides for controlling mosquito larvae in the future. Aedes aegypti Dengue Plant essentiol oil GC-MS analysis Larvicide Synergism Full Text Supplementary Files Responsetoreviewer.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Major Revision 23 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 27 Feb, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 25 Feb, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 11 Feb, 2026 First submitted to journal 08 Feb, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8770666","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":596929643,"identity":"b738b11e-2672-40cf-9292-54cbc143c745","order_by":0,"name":"SUNDHARESAN 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The chemical profiles of the volatile oils were characterized through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The major constituents identified were thymol (74.93%) in \u003cem\u003ePlectranthus amboinicus\u003c/em\u003e leaves, terpinen-4-ol (27.13%) in \u003cem\u003eMyristica fragrans\u003c/em\u003e nuts, citral (27.55%) in \u003cem\u003eCitrus limon\u003c/em\u003e leaves, caryophyllene oxide (36.11%) in \u003cem\u003eHyptis suaveolens\u003c/em\u003e leaves, and asarone (85.51%) in \u003cem\u003eAcorus calamus\u003c/em\u003e rhizomes. Larvicidal bioassays revealed LC\u003csub\u003e50\u003c/sub\u003e values below 50 ppm (23.40 to 47.34 ppm), with the order of efficacy being \u003cem\u003eA. calamus\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;\u003cem\u003eM. fragrans\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;\u003cem\u003eT. ammi\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;\u003cem\u003eI. verum\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;\u003cem\u003eC. limon\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;\u003cem\u003eH. suaveolens\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;\u003cem\u003eP. amboinicus\u003c/em\u003e. Twenty-one binary and thirty-five ternary combinations were tested to determine synergistic, additive, and antagonistic interactions using Wadley's, Ting-Chao Chou, Co-Toxicity Factor, and Chi-square comparison methods. Binary combinations, such as \u003cem\u003eP. amboinicus\u003c/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eM. fragrans\u003c/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eT. ammi\u003c/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eM. fragrans\u003c/em\u003e exhibited better synergism, this combination analysed by GC-MS, \u003cem\u003eP. amboinicus\u003c/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eM. fragrans\u003c/em\u003e contains, carvacrol (36.23%), thymol (39.04%), and caryophyllene oxide (3.84%). Similarly, the combination of \u003cem\u003eT. ammi\u003c/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eM. fragrans\u003c/em\u003e showed thymol (61.96%) and caryophyllene oxide (7.19%). Based on the essential oil yield and activity the \u003cem\u003eT. ammi\u003c/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eM. fragrans\u003c/em\u003e binary combination formulated as soft-gel capsules, this formulation showed 100% larval mortality. 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