Li Xingye, Wang Xinyue, Sun Changjiao, Wang Anqi, An Changcheng, Li Ningjun, Shen Yue, Hu Jiachong, Liu Huihui, Xie Jing, Luo Dan, Wang Yan
Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, PR China.
Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
Nat Commun. 2025 Jul 24;16(1):6809. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-61969-7.
Nanopesticides provide immense potential in reducing pesticide use and promoting sustainable agriculture for their enhanced pesticidal efficacy. Nano-enabled delivery systems can enhance pesticide penetration into both insects and leaves through their unique nanoproperties, in particular their small size. However, it remains a great challenge to achieve unimolecular formulations in water-based processes in order to take full advantages of nanoproperties. Here, using ionic liquid, we fabricate unimolecular nanopesticides (about 3 nm in average diameter) in a water-based process, termed unimolecule-nanopesticide delivery system. Guided by the density functional theory calculations, we successfully convert various traditional pesticides into the unimolecule-nanopesticide system, significantly enhancing cellular uptake, insect-dermis translocation, and leaf-cuticle penetration of pesticides. Furthermore, we improved field efficacy against multiple pests using the unimolecule-nanopesticide system. Importantly, the unimolecule-nanopesticide system utilizes only industry-grade raw materials that are Generally Recognized as Safe by the US Food and Drug Administration. We believe our unimolecule-nanopesticide system represents a water-based and facile-manufactured platform for other conventional pesticides to achieve high-efficiency field-scale plant protection.
纳米农药因其增强的杀虫效果，在减少农药使用和促进可持续农业方面具有巨大潜力。纳米递送系统可以通过其独特的纳米特性，特别是其小尺寸，增强农药对昆虫和叶片的渗透。然而，在水基过程中实现单分子制剂以充分利用纳米特性仍然是一个巨大的挑战。在此，我们使用离子液体，在水基过程中制备了平均直径约为3纳米的单分子纳米农药，称为单分子纳米农药递送系统。在密度泛函理论计算的指导下，我们成功地将各种传统农药转化为单分子纳米农药系统，显著增强了农药的细胞摄取、昆虫真皮转运和叶片角质层渗透。此外，我们使用单分子纳米农药系统提高了对多种害虫的田间防治效果。重要的是，单分子纳米农药系统仅使用美国食品药品监督管理局普遍认为安全的工业级原料。我们相信，我们的单分子纳米农药系统代表了一个水基且易于制造的平台，可用于其他传统农药实现高效的田间规模植物保护。
