Heterocyclic Moieties as Prospective Nematicides: An Overview

Plant parasitic nematodes are destructive endoparasites having deleterious effect on about 5000 agricultural crops notably vegetables, fruits, field crops, ornamental plants, and even human health. The immense damage caused by nematodes has been estimated as US $150 billion per annum (21.3%) despite of the availability of commercialized nematicides. Nevertheless, crop protection is still dependent on the development of novel chemicals due to development of pesticide resistance line by diverse pathogens. The utilization of heterocyclic moieties in agricultural industry is considered as an effectual practice to manage plant diseases either as systemic or non-systemic. These scaffolds consist of heteroatoms in their ring structure such as N, S, O, which give a boost to their biological activity as reported. The principal heterocyclic scaffolds are the benzimidazole, pyridine, nicotinic acid, pyrrole, indole, isatin, triazine, triazole, pyrazole, amides, imidazole, cinnamic acid, oxadiazole, coumarin, thiadiazole, etc. derivatives which owing to their marvelous structural diversity are widely exploited. The prime purpose of the review is to provide information to researchers around the globe about varied heterocyclic scaffold decorations that have been employed for the synthesis of potential nematicidal candidates from 2000 onwards and their utilization to combat complex destructive biotic stress. Therefore, this review assembled the considerable synthetic chemistry and nematicidal investigation of moieties against various plant parasitic pathogens along with structure-activity relationship studies. The scientific details provided in the article will highlight the importance of heterocyclic compounds in the agricultural industry and may pave a pathway for the development of novel nematicides.