Imitrodast sodium

Application of natural products as new green agrochemicals with low average lifetime, low concentration doses, and safety is both complex and expensive due to chemical modification required to obtain desirable physicochemical properties. Transport, aqueous solubility, and bioavailability are some of the properties that have been improved using functionalized metal-organic frameworks based on zinc for the encapsulation of bioherbicides (ortho-disulfides). An in situ method has been applied to achieve encapsulation, which, in turn, led to an improvement in water solubility by more than 8 times after 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin HP-β-CD surface functionalization. High-resolution high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HR HAADF-STEM) and integrated differential phase contrast (iDPC) imaging techniques were employed to verify the success of the encapsulation procedure and crystallinity of the sample. Inhibition studies on principal weeds that infect rice, corn, and potato crops gave results that exceed those obtained with the commercial herbicide Logran. This finding, along with a short synthesis period, i.e., 2 h at 25 °C, make the product an example of a new generation of natural-product-based herbicides with direct applications in agriculture.

Herbicides are a key element in agriculture but they do cause environmental problems and natural alternatives are being sought. In this context, invasive plants could provide an as yet unexplored source for the development of future herbicides. Urochloa humidicola has great invasive potential in Brazilian environments as it hampers the establishment of other plants. The phytotoxicity of U. humidicola root extracts has been evaluated, and the major components have been identified. The phytotoxicity of the extract was assessed in the wheat coleoptile assay on seeds of troublesome weeds and on Anadenanthera colubrina, a tree species used in ecological restoration programs. The ethyl acetate extract showed the highest activity, and the most affected weeds were E. crus-galli, M. maximus, and A. viridis with the latter weed more affected by the extract than by the herbicide Logran. Microscopic ultrastructural analysis of A. colubrina roots indicated possible signals of cell death. Seven compounds were identified in the ethyl acetate extract of which one diterpene and four saponins are new. Six of these compounds were tested in the wheat coleoptile bioassay. The most active were diterpene 1 and saponins 2, 3, and 6. The phytotoxic activity of U. humidicola explains the issues observed in ecological restoration with A. colubrina in the presence of Urochloa species, and its effect on weeds reinforces its potential use in agriculture.