Abstract
Mosquito-borne diseases represent a key hazard for millions of people worldwide. Mosquito repellents play a significant role in disrupting the disease by reduce human-vector contact. However, the use of synthetic repellents has raised several concerns in terms of environmental and human health risks and safety. Therefore, the plant-based mosquito repellents are an alternative to synthetic repellents. The two plant-based compounds reported here, β-caryophyllene oxide (BCO) and vetiver oil (VO), came to our attention via a large scientific research. Thus, we focused our efforts to investigate and develop an efficient BCO and VO repellent for personal protection against mosquito bites. The results demonstrated that BCO had stronger repellent effects on mosquitoes than DEET at the same concentration. In addition, the combination of BCO and VO showed an efficient repellency up to 12 hours. Moreover, these two compounds have neither any phototoxic nor genotoxic response, suggesting their high potential for further development as green repellents, safer for human and the environment. Keywords: β-Caryophyllene oxide, Vetiver oil, Mosquito vectors, Plant-based repellent