Using a Dynamic Hydrophilization Strategy to Achieve Nanodispersion, Full Wetting, and Precise Delivery of Hydrophobic Pesticide

Abstract

Various strategies have been developed to improve the applicability of hydrophobic pesticides for better effectiveness in agriculture. However, existing formulations of hydrophobic pesticides still suffer from complicated processing, abused organic solvents, indispensable surfactants, or inescapable ecotoxicity, which strictly limit their applications. Herein, a dynamic covalent bond tailored pesticide (fipronil) amphiphile is constructed to address the above issues, which accomplishes the nanodispersion, full wetting, and precise delivery without organic solvents, surfactants, and materials simultaneously. By introducing a hydrophilic ligand on the hydrophobic fipronil through an imine bond, the cleavable fipronil amphiphile (FPP) exhibits superior water solubility and can even self-assemble into micelles at higher concentrations, which can be directly applied in powder form without organic solvents. Attributed to the suitable hydrophilic/ hydrophobic ratio, FPP achieves full wetting and effective deposition on superhydrophobic rice leaves without surfactants. Moreover, benefiting from the unique dynamic nature of the imine bond, FPP maintains good storage stability while sensitively releasing back to fipronil under the humidity and pH trigger, consequently implementing the precise delivery for nontarget Apis cerana and target Chilo suppressalis without materials. To our knowledge, this dynamic covalent bond tailored amphiphile strategy is the first idea that simultaneously takes the dispersibility, wettability, and responsiveness of hydrophobic pesticides into account, providing a possibility to control the entire journey of field application and even promising to be incorporated into the synthesis process, thus paving the way for modern sustainable agriculture.

Making the Complicated Simple: A Minimizing Carrier Strategy on Innovative Nanopesticides

“…Additionally, the toxicity of zebrafish exposed to molecules incorporating long carbon chains and aromatic rings was reduced by nearly four times compared to fipronil. Also, utilizing the amino group on fipronil, Zhao et al [ 53 ] introduced 2-sulfobenzaldehyde and facilitated its combination to create an imine covalent bond, subsequently self-assembling into nanomicelles with a diameter of approximately 16.9 nm. The dynamic nature of the imine construction enables the system to precisely release highly active fipronil under conditions of high humidity and weak alkalinity.…”

Effects of Different Spray Adjuvants on the Permeation of Dinotefuran in Rice Leaves

“…The purpose of these methods is to increase the likelihood of contact between the active ingredients within the product and the target pests, thereby improving product efficacy. Given the complex nature of real-world application scenarios, the surface energy of the liquid and the surface energy of the target are pivotal factors influencing the interaction between pests and the active ingredient [40]. Using the dipping method rather than the more complex foliar spraying process reduces the impact of spray pressure, spray pattern and other factors.…”

Efficient Control of Rhizoctonia solani Using Environmentally Friendly pH-Responsive Tannic Acid–Rosin Nano-Microcapsules

“…According to the methods reported in previous studies, − the chemical functional groups of the samples were analyzed by a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR, Nicolet iS10, Thermo Fisher Scientific, U.S.A.) with a scanning range of 4000 to 500 cm –1 with 32 scans at a resolution of 4 cm –1 . In the morphological observation of nanomicrocapsules, 5 μL of a diluted sample of nanomicrocapsules (20 μg/mL) was dropped onto the 200 mesh carbon film-supported copper grids.…”