FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates generally to insect repellents, and specifically, to a mosquito repellent that may be made with natural oils or botanical extracts, an additive to increase the time of repellent effectiveness and to enhance the fragrance.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION:

Insect repellents for human beings are well known in the art. Mosquito menace is a global problem. Diseases like malaria, filariasis, Dengue fever, yellow fever, are known to spread through mosquitoes. However, elimination or eradication of mosquitoes or mosquitoes larvae, as well as development of safer, less toxic, more effective, human-friendly mosquitorepellants have not received adequate attention of research communities. There are very few natural or herbal solutions for repelling mosquitoes reported in the literature. Some natural products which effectively repel mosquitoes are reported, but they require more frequent reapplication (at least every 2 hours) and higher concentration than DEET. Historically, original insect repellents often contain high levels of sometime toxic chemicals and were not medically good for skin contact in human beings or pets. Outdoor environments enjoyed by humans such as tropical climates, beaches or lakes include activities in direct sunlight. Insects are often present in these environments.

Currently available in the market are mainly mosquito coils mosquito products, electronic insect repellent and mosquito-killing spray agent products, although expulsion and killing mosquitoes can play a role, but they are common the presence of smoke and spray offensive Toxic agents have a negative impact on the human body odor and other issues.

One problem with insect sprays or lotions is lack of water/sweat tolerance. Sweating, rain, and swimming tend to wash off, dissolve or evaporate therepellent from the skin of the user. Several applications of insect spray would be required over short periods of time in order to be effective. Another problem with insect repellents is that their effective insect repelling time period, once applied to the skin, is relatively short.

Many natural substances are known to repel insects, but these are normally only effective for a short period of time. Further, many natural substances lose their effectiveness when formulated for use through refining and processing into lotions, oils, sprays and other like substances.In one of the existing solutions, coconut fatty acid are used for repelling biting and flying insects. In another solution, insect repellent that uses synthetic elements for repelling insects is described.

However, none of the references shown in the prior art provide the scope of insect repellent coverage provided by the present invention including the longer lasting effectiveness of the repellent and its durability of staying on. Further, it would be desirable to provide an insectrepellent that is not harmful to humans (such as skin rashes). In particularly, it is desirable to provide a composition that is non-toxic.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:

The present invention relates to a mosquito repellent composition that comprises of neem oil and camphor. The composition contains higher weight percentage of camphor than neem oil. Preferably, the composition contains 15-35 percent neem oil by weight and 65-85percent camphor by weight.
It is an object of the invention to provideaninsect repellent composition that is long lasting than the existing solutions.
It is an object of the invention to providean insect repellent composition that is not harmful to humans, for instance that does not causes skin rashes).
It is an object of the invention to providean insect repellent compositionthat is non-toxic.
To further clarify advantages and features of the present invention, a more particular description of the invention will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof.

Detailed Description:

For the purpose of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the embodiments and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended, such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated system, and such further applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated therein being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory of the invention and are not intended to be restrictive thereof.

Reference throughout this specification to “an aspect”, “another aspect” or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrase “in an embodiment”, “in another embodiment” and similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment.

The terms "comprises", "comprising", or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process or method that comprises a list of steps does not include only those steps but may include other steps not expressly listed or inherent to such process or method. Similarly, one or more devices or sub-systems or elements or structures or components proceeded by "comprises...a" does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other devices or other sub-systems or other elements or other structures or other components or additional devices or additional sub-systems or additional elements or additional structures or additional components.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. The system, methods, and examples provided herein are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting.

Throughout the following description specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding to persons skilled in the art. However, well known elements may not have been shown or described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the disclosure. Accordingly, the description is to be regarded in an illustrative, rather than a restrictive, sense.

Where a range of values is provided, it is understood that each intervening value, to the tenth of the unit of the lower limit unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, between the upper and lower limit of that range and any other stated or intervening value within that stated range is encompassed within embodiments of the invention. The upper and lower limits of these smaller ranges may independently define a smaller range of values, and it is to be understood that these smaller ranges are intended to be encompassed within embodiments of the invention, subject to any specifically excluded limit in the stated range.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Although any methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can also be used in the practice or testing of embodiments of the present invention, preferred methods and materials are described to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the disclosure. As used herein, singular forms include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

As used herein, the term "pesticide" or insectide or mosquito/ insect repellent all refer to the same product and refers to an agent that can be used to control and/or kill a pest.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail.

The present invention discloses an insect repellent aqueous formulation comprising a combination of at least two essential oils, neem oil containing Azadirachtin as the main componentand camphor(1,7,7-Trimethylbicyclo[2.2.1]heptan-2-one ). The composition contains higher weight percentage of camphor than neem oil. Preferably, the composition contains 15-35 percent neem oil by weight and 65-85 percent camphor by weight.
In a preferred embodiment, the formulation contains 20 percent by weight neem oil and 80 percent by weight camphor. It has been found as a result of continuous experimentation that it is essential to have the camphor oil in higher concentration than the neem oil owing to the evaporation properties of camphor.The above composition is long lasting and has shown good results in comparison to the existing products. In particularly, a larger number of mosquitos are killed or escaped when the aforesaid composition is used.

It has been found that neem tree acts as a source of insecticide to which insects have not developed a resistance. Various neemseed extracts, particularly the ones containing the tetranortriterpenoid azadirachtin, have been found to influence the feeding behavior, metamorphosis (insect growth regulating effect), fecundity, and fitness of numerous insect and fungal species belonging to various orders. Neem seeds also contain an oil substance which has been used for its medicinal and therapeutic properties for centuries. There are two principle methods of removal of oil from neem seeds: expulsion, where the oil is pressed from the seeds, and extraction, where the oil is removed from the seeds by solubilization in a solvent. Inherently, materials made by these methods have very different properties. Oil expelled from the seed will also contain water expelled from the seed by the same process. This aqueous material will carry along with it liminoids, such as azadirachtin, which themselves have insecticidal activity.The chemical constituents found in the leaves of neem include nimbin, nimbanene, 6-desacetylnimbinene, nimbandiol, nimbolide, ascorbic acid, n-hexacosanol and amino acid, 7-desacetyl-7-benzoylazadiradione, 7-desacetyl-7-benzoylgedunin, 17-hydroxyazadiradione and nimbiol.

In an embodiment, the aqueous formulation comprises an emulsifier. In a preferred embodiment, the emulsifier is Tween 20 or Paraffin oil, wherein the concentration (volume/volume) of the emulsifier in the formulation ranges between about 0.1% and about 1%.

In another embodiment, the oils are cold expeller pressed.The composition of this invention is made by extracting these oils from by cold expeller pressing, rolling, centrifugation, or like means, and adding an antioxidant to the extracted, crude essential oils. The oils are protected from peroxidation before the addition of antioxidants by keeping them in an inert atmosphere, such as by covering them with nitrogen gas. It is important to prevent peroxidation in order to preserve the bio-active ingredients of the crude cold processed oils. Processing temperatures are usually from about 5° C. to about 35° C.

In an embodiment, the aqueous formulation comprises a solvent, such as light oil that contains an antioxidant.

In an embodiment, the light oil is a light vegetableoil or a light mineral oil selected from the group consisting of cottonseed, soy and rice bran oil.

In an embodiment, the aqueous formulation comprisescomprising a preservative selected from the group consisting of Parabens, Imidureas and Quaternary Ammonium Compounds.

In an embodiment, the aqueous formulation comprises a surfactant selected form the group consisting of polyethylene glycols, oleates, stearates, and laurates.

In an embodiment, the aqueous formulation comprises a UV stabilizer or absorber selected from the group consisting of benzophenones, salicylate esters, cinnamate esters and p-aminobenzoic acid esters.

In an embodiment, a device for using the aqueous solution is provided. The device includes:
a. container having the aqueous solution;
b. a housing for holding the container having the aqueous solution;
b. a vaporizing means containing a heating element disposed within the said housing for vaporizing the said composition.

The heating element provides heat that vaporizes the liquid present in the container. It comprises of a plastic outer casing inside which there is a thermistor. At the centre, there is an aluminium cuffling which transfers heat from thermistor to the wick (graphite rod). The leads of the thermistor are connected to the circuit. To dissipate the liquid to the atmosphere, PTC thermistor is used. The reason for using a PTC thermistor is that a temperature range of 45-50°C is required. The liquid boils and gets converted to vapor efficiently at this temperature range.A container that holds the aqueous solution is provided. It is made of PET Plastic, which is highly inert in nature. The main function of the container is to hold the aqueous solution within itself and prevent leakage. The volume of the container may be varies depending upon the requirement. The Graphite rod is placed in the chemical container.It is a porous wick which gets heated when the device is switched on, and this enables the aqueous solution to go into the wick by capillary action where it vaporizes and gets dissipated into the room.

The forgoing description gives examples of embodiments. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that one or more of the described elements may well be combined into a single functional element. Alternatively, certain elements may be split into multiple functional elements. Elements from one embodiment may be added to another embodiment. For example, orders of processes described herein may be changed and are not limited to the manner described herein. Moreover, the actions of any flow diagram need not be implemented in the order shown; nor do all of the acts necessarily need to be performed. Also, those acts that are not dependent on other acts may be performed in parallel with the other acts. The scope of embodiments is by no means limited by these specific examples. Numerous variations, whether explicitly given in the specification or not, such as differences in structure, dimension, and use of material, are possible.

Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems have been described above with regard to specific embodiments. However, the benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, andany component(s) that may cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become more pronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essential feature or component of any part of the invention.

I claim:
1. An insect repellent aqueous formulation comprising:
a combination of at least two essential oils, neem oil containing Azadirachtin as the main component and camphor(1,7,7-Trimethylbicyclo[2.2.1]heptan-2-one), wherein the composition contains higher weight percentage of camphor than neem oil.

2. The insect repellent aqueous formulation as claimed in claim 1, wherein the formulation contains 15-35 percent neem oil by weight and 65-85 percent camphor by weight.

3. The insect repellent aqueous formulation as claimed in claim 2, wherein the formulation contains 20 percent by weight neem oil and 80 percent by weight camphor.

4. The insect repellent aqueous formulation as claimed in claim 1, wherein the neem oil includes nimbin, nimbanene, 6-desacetylnimbinene, nimbandiol, nimbolide, ascorbic acid, n-hexacosanol and amino acid, 7-desacetyl-7-benzoylazadiradione, 7-desacetyl-7-benzoylgedunin, 17-hydroxyazadiradione and nimbiol.

5. The insect repellent aqueous formulation as claimed in claim 1 further comprising an emulsifier, wherein the emulsifier is Tween 20 or Paraffin oil, and wherein the concentration (volume/volume) of the emulsifier in the formulation ranges between about 0.1% and about 1%.

6. The insect repellent aqueous formulation as claimed in claim 1, wherein the oils are cold expeller pressed and are protected from peroxidation before the addition of antioxidants by keeping them in an inert atmosphere, by covering them with nitrogen gas.

7. The insect repellent aqueous formulation as claimed in claim 1, wherein the aqueous formulation comprises a solvent, including at least light oil that contains an antioxidant, wherein the light oil is a light vegetable oil or a light mineral oil selected from the group consisting of cottonseed, soy and rice bran oil.

8. The insect repellent aqueous formulation as claimed in claim 1, wherein the aqueous formulation comprises at least one or more of:

a. a preservative selected from the group consisting of Parabens, Imidureas and Quaternary Ammonium Compounds;
b. a surfactant selected form the group consisting of polyethylene glycols, oleates, stearates, and laurates.

9. The insect repellent aqueous formulation as claimed in claim 1, wherein the aqueous formulation comprises a UV stabilizer or absorber selected from the group consisting of benzophenones, salicylate esters, cinnamate esters and p-aminobenzoic acid esters.