Essential Oils as Repellents against Arthropods

Table 1

An overview of commercially available repellents of synthetic and natural origins.

Repellent	Active compound	Repellency	Safety/Toxicity	Origin
DEET	N,N-diethyl-3-methyl-benzamide. (N, N-diethyl-m-toluamide)	23.8% (6.65%) DEET provides about 5 (2) hours of protection against mosquitoes [92]	Potential neuro toxicity if applied under sunscreen.; EPA toxicity category III (slightly toxic)
Picaridin	(2-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1- piperidine-carboxylic acid 1-methylpropyl-ester)	Picaridin 20% works as well as DEET 20% [93]	Possible skin irritation.; EPA toxicity category III (slightly toxic)
Permethrin	(3-phenoxybenzyl (1RS)- cis, trans-3-(2, 2- dichlorovinyl)-2, 2- dimethyl-cyclo-propanecarboxylate)	Permethrin medication is applied to skin as a cream or lotion.; Permethrin repellents should be used on clothes.	Not useful on skin. Possible skin irritation.; (EPA, likely human carcinogen)	Chrysanthemum spp.
PMD; (Oil of lemon eucalyptus)	(p-menthane-3, 8-diol)	PMD is as effective as DEET when used in like quantities.; PMD provides about 2 hours of protection against mosquito bites [94]	Potential skin irritation in atopic individuals.; EPA toxicity category I(highly toxic)	Lemon eucalyptus
Citronella	(3, 7-dimethyloct-6-en-1-al)	The complete protection time (CPT) of DEET (360 min) was much longer than the CPTs of citronella (10.5 min) from mosquitoes [95]	Potential eye and skin irritation and allergies for Ceylon type; EPA toxicity category IV (practically non-toxic)	Cymbopogon spp.