Research Progress on Benzimidazole Fungicides: A Review

Abstract

Benzimidazole fungicides are a class of highly effective, low-toxicity, systemic broad-spectrum fungicides developed in the 1960s and 1970s, based on the fungicidal activity of the benzimidazole ring structure. They exhibit biological activities including anticancer, antibacterial, and antiparasitic effects. Due to their particularly outstanding antibacterial properties, they are widely used in agriculture to prevent and control various plant diseases caused by fungi. The main products of benzimidazole fungicides include benomyl, carbendazim, thiabendazole, albendazole, thiophanate, thiophanate-methyl, fuberidazole, methyl (1-{[(5-cyanopentyl)amino]carbonyl}-1H-benzimidazol-2-yl) carbamate, and carbendazim salicylate. This article mainly reviews the physicochemical properties, toxicological properties, disease control efficacy, and pesticide residue and detection technologies of the aforementioned nine benzimidazole fungicides and their main metabolite (2-aminobenzimidazole). On this basis, a brief outlook on the future research directions of benzimidazole fungicides is presented.

Biofungicides Based on Plant Extracts: On the Road to Organic Farming

“…Some mechanisms of biofungicides are similar to those of chemical fungicides; for example, benzimidazoles have a chemical structure similar to the bases of the nucleic acids of fungi. They can replace the bases of nucleotides and prevent the polymerization of nucleotides into nucleic acids and thus influence nucleotide synthesis in fungi [16]. Acylalanines inhibit ribosomal RNA synthesis; carbamate vanilamides inhibit cell wall biosynthesis; strobilurins, oxazolidinones, and imidazolones inhibit mitochondrial respiration; and toluamides inhibit cell division, to name but a few [43].…”

“…There are even reports suggesting that they have an ecological function that is reflected in a reduction in respiration by creating a specific microclimate that protects plants from excessive transpiration, reflection, and refraction of light, which allows the plant to adapt its immediate environment to create less favorable conditions for pathogens and thus improve its survivability, and finally, they promote a reduction in health problems in farmers, such as chronic degenerative diseases of the skin and respiratory tract associated with the use of synthetic pesticides [14,15]. These biofungicides have various mechanisms of action, including the inhibition of germ tube elongation, delaying sporulation, DNA damage, inhibition of protein synthesis, damaging the structures of hyphae and mycelia, inhibition of the production of toxic substances from mycotoxin-producing fungi, and many more [16]. Currently, there is a global trend towards the consumption of food produced with organic products.…”

Discovery of a New Class of Lipophilic Pyrimidine-Biphenyl Herbicides Using an Integrated Experimental-Computational Approach

“…Herbicides are useful tools for managing weeds and thus promote food production and sustainable agriculture along with pesticides [ 1 ] and fungicides [ 2 ]. Acetohydroxyacid synthase (AHAS) is the primary enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) in plants, bacteria, and fungi but not mammals [ 3 ].…”