Izadi, HomaFocke, Walter WilhelmAsaadi, ErfanMaharaj, RajendraPretorius, JannieLoots, Mattheus Theodor2017-09-262017-09-262017-08-31Izadi, H., Focke, W.W., Asaadi, E., Maharaj, R., Pretorius, J. & Loots, M.T. 2017, 'A promising azeotrope-like mosquito repellent blend', Scientific Reports, vol. 7, art. no. 10273, pp. 1-11.2045-2322 (online)10.1038/s41598-017-10548-yhttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/62515Topical repellents play a key role in reducing the outdoor transmission of mosquito-borne diseases by reducing human-vector contact. Excellent repellents are available, but there is always room for improvement. This article reports on a particularly effective binary repellent blend of ethyl butylacetylaminopropionate and nonanoic acid. A composition containing 25 mol% of the acid exhibits negative pseudo-azeotrope behaviour at 50 °C, meaning that the liquid vapour pressure is lower than that of the parent compounds and evaporation occurs without a change in the liquid composition. In tests performed using the South African Medical Research Council’s cup-on-arm procedure, this mixture provided better protection for a longer time than the “gold standard of mosquito repellents”, namely N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide, commonly known as DEET.en© The Author(s) 2017. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.Topical repellentsMosquito-borne diseasesTransmissionExcellent repellentsArticle