Some factors affecting the distribution and rate of action of insecticides

The amount of insecticide that reaches a critical site of action within an insect is affected by a number of physical and chemical processes both within and outside the insect. This paper reviews some of these processes, with particular attention to those external to the insect, whose action commences at the moment an insecticide is released into the environment. On the basis of research that has been conducted on such processes, conclusions are drawn as to the properties that are desirable, from the point of view of insecticidal efficiency, in new compounds.