Comparative tests of dimethylphthalate, diethylphthalate and dibutylphthalate as repellents
Potapov, A.A.; Vladimirova, V.V.; Sazonova, Z.V.; Bogdanova, E.I.
Meditsinskaia Parazitologiia i Parazitarnye Bolezni 42(6): 692-697
1973
ISSN/ISBN: 0025-8326 PMID: 4783465 Document Number: 65364
Dibutyl phthalate was found to be more repellent than diethyl phthalate, dimethyl phthalate and deet to Xenopsylla cheopis (Roths.) in olfactometer tests and to Ixodes persulcatus Schulze in tests in which the ticks were placed on strips of cloth treated at 20 g/m2. On the other hand, dimethyl phthalate was found to be more repellent than diethyl phthalate and dibutyl phthalate to Tabanids (mainly Hybomitra bimaculata Macq.) and Aedes communis(Deg.) in olfactometer tests and to A. aegypti (l.) in tests in which the arm of a volunteer was covered with treated cloth and exposed daily in a cage containing some 2000 mosquitos. The repellents were applied to the skin of volunteers at 0.3 ml/forearm in field tests in the Krasnoyarsk district of the Soviet Union in 1969. Dimethyl phthalate protected against attack by A. communis for 6 h 50 min in hot weather and 7 h 40 min in cool weather, diethyl phthalate for 1 h 20 min and 5 h, respectively, and dibutyl phthalate for 40 min and 3 h 50 min. The compounds had no ill effects on the skin after numerous applications, but all were highly irritant to the conjunctival mucosa.