Design, Synthesis, and Antifungal Activities of New β‐Methoxyacrylate Analogues

Strobilurins have become one of the most important classes of agricultural fungicides. To search for new strobilurin derivatives with high activity against resistant pathogens, a series of new β‐methoxyacrylate analogues containing substituted pyrimidine in the side chain with strobilurin pharmacophore were synthesized and their biological activities were tested. The compounds were confirmed and characterized by 1 H‐NMR, elemental analysis and mass spectroscopy. The bioassays indicated that most of the compounds 1 exhibited potent antifungal activities against Colletotrichum orbiculare , Botrytis cinerea Pers and Phytophthora capsici Leonian at a concentration of 50 μg mL −1 . Notably, compound 1b (R = 2,5‐dimethylphenyl) showed better antifungal activity against all the tested fungi than the commercial strobilurin fungicide azoxystrobin.