Small, 2024, https://doi: 10.1002/smll.202406419

Abstract

Developing cost-effective, energy-saving, and eco-friendly methods to construct nanopesticides fulfill the requirement of modern agriculture. Benefiting from the versatility of metal-based complexes, a facile copper-driven method is discovered for the formation of a fungicide prothioconazole nanocomplex (Cu-Pro) with the particle size of ≈300 ± 85 nm. Interestingly, adding 0.5-1% of anionic surfactants could generate nanocomplexes within 60 ± 12 nm and form stable dispersed nanosuspensions. Both nanocomplexes exhibit remarkable control efficacy against six plant pathogenic fungi, and the EC₅₀ values are 1.4-4.8 times lower than that of prothioconazole technical concentrate (Pro TC). In addition, the novel nanocomplexes demonstrate better resistance against UV irradiation and the half-lives are 3.27- and 1.56-times longer than that of Pro TC, respectively. The acute toxicity of prothioconazole nanocomplexes against non-target organism zebrafish is decreased. Due to the small size and chelation with metals, the uptake and accumulation of prothioconazole in wheat plant is promoted, and the metabolites prothioconazole-desthio is significantly decreased by 42-48% than that of Pro TC. This metal coordination-based strategy seeks to open a new avenue for the high-throughput preparation of nanopesticides, providing an innovative toolbox for reducing the input of agrochemicals in sustainable plant protection.

Small, IF=13

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39439147/