Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 July 2009
Experiments have been carried out on the insecticidal action of p-, m- and o-iodo-nitrobenzene and their dichlorides. The real toxicity of these substances was estimated with the micro-injection method of Dresden, the contact action with the petri-dish method of Krijgsman & Berger. The real toxicity of the p- compounds appeared to be somewhat higher than that of their isomers. The dichlorides showed a somewhat higher toxicity than the other compounds. The contact action of the p- compounds is much higher than that of their isomers. This is caused by considerable differences in permeation velocity. The position of the iodine atom affects the permeation velocity very considerably but has much less influence on the real toxicity. It is suggested that the enhanced effect of the p- position on the permeation velocity is a general rule.
P-iodo-nitrobenzenedichloride shows such a high permeation velocity that it must be considered as a promising contact insecticide despite the fact that its real toxicity is low as compared with several other modern insecticides.