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Pesticides protected by MOF container
Summary
Researchers developed a biodegradable metal-organic framework (MOF) that can store pesticide molecules and also delivers plant nutrients, improving the efficiency of pest control compounds. The slow-release system reduced the amount of pesticide needed and minimized environmental runoff. Controlled-release delivery systems for agrochemicals can reduce the contamination of soil and water that can accumulate on microplastic surfaces.
A biodegradable metal-organic framework (MOF) that does double duty as a pesticide delivery system and a plant fertilizer could help improve the effectiveness of pest-killing compounds ( ACS Agric. Sci. Technol. 2023, DOI: 10.1021/acsagscitech.2c00295 ). MOFs are crystalline lattices containing metal nodes held together by organic linker molecules, and their pores can store guest molecules . In this latest example, researchers added avermectins, a family of compounds produced by the bacterium Streptomyces avermitilis , to a MOF. Inserting these broad-spectrum pesticides within a structure can protect them from degrading easily when exposed to light and make them more potent against pests. Previous attempts to protect and deliver avermectins have included encapsulating the pesticides in polymers—which may add microplastics to the environment—or loading them into MOFs. But most MOFs use toxic metals or expensive organic linkers, making them unsuitable for agriculture. Lidong Cao, a pesticide researcher at the Chinese Academy of