Plant-Derived Pesticides as an Alternative to Pest Management and Sustainable Agricultural Production: Prospects,Applications and Challenges

Pests and diseases are responsible for most of the losses related to agricultural crops, either in the field or in storage. Moreover, due to indiscriminate use of synthetic pesticides over the years, several issues have come along, such as pest resistance and contamination of important planet sources, such as water, air and soil. Therefore, in order to improve efficiency of crop production and reduce food crisis in a sustainable manner, while preserving consumer’s health, plant-derived pesticides may be a green alternative to synthetic ones. They are cheap, biodegradable, ecofriendly and act by several mechanisms of action in a more specific way, suggesting that they are less of a hazard to humans and the environment. Natural plant products with bioactivity toward insects include several classes of molecules, for example: terpenes, flavonoids, alkaloids, polyphenols, cyanogenic glucosides, quinones, amides, aldehydes, thiophenes, amino acids, saccharides and polyketides (which is not an exhaustive list of insecticidal substances). In general, those compounds have important ecological activities in nature, such as: antifeedant, attractant, nematicide, fungicide, repellent, insecticide, insect growth regulator and allelopathic agents, acting as a promising source for novel pest control agents or biopesticides. However, several factors appear to limit their commercialization. In this critical review, a compilation of plant-derived metabolites, along with their corresponding toxicology and mechanisms of action, will be approached, as well as the different strategies developed in order to meet the required commercial standards through more efficient methods.     

Analytical Extraction Methods and Sorbents’ Development for Simultaneous Determination of Organophosphorus Pesticides’ Residues in Food and Water Samples: A Review

Extensive use of organophosphorus pesticides in agriculture leads to adverse effects to the environment and human health. Sample preparation is compulsory to enrich target analytes prior to detection as they often exist at trace levels and this step is critical as it determines the concentration of pollutants present in samples. The selection of a suitable extraction method is of great importance. The analytical performance of the extraction methods is influenced by the selection of sorbents as sorbents play a vital role in the sensitivity and selectivity of an analytical method. To date, numerous sorbent materials have been developed to cater to the needs of selective and sensitive pesticides’ detection. Comprehensive details pertaining to extraction methods, developed sorbents, and analytical performance are provided. This review intended to provide a general overview on different extraction techniques and sorbents that have been developed in the last 10 years for organophosphorus pesticides’ determinations in food and water samples.     

高效液相色谱-串联质谱法测定蜂蜜中9种农药残留

建立了同时测定蜂蜜中9种苯并咪唑类和新烟碱类农药的全自动固相萃取-高效液相色谱-串联质谱检测方法。蜂蜜样品用磷酸盐缓冲液（pH=7.8）溶解，超声提取，经亲水亲脂平衡（hydrophilic-lipophilic balance，HLB）固相萃取小柱净化，氮吹浓缩，定容，过滤膜后进行高效液相色谱-串联质谱分析，采用多反应监测（MRM）模式测定，以内标法定量。结果表明，在0.002~0.05 mg/L范围内9种农药呈现出较好的线性关系（相关系数r² ≥ 0.99），检出限和定量限分别为0.1~1.0 μg/kg和0.3~2.0 μg/kg。对阴性蜂蜜，在5.0、10.0、20.0 μg/kg 3个水平下分别进行加标回收试验，测出9种农药的平均回收率在78.2%~101.2%之间，相对标准偏差为1.3%~14.3%（n=6）。该方法可适用于大批量蜂蜜样品的快速准确测定。     

Developments in the use of chromatographic techniques in marine laboratories for the determination of halogenated contaminants and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Chromatography has been an important tool in marine laboratories. Since the 1960s, marine laboratories have been involved in the analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and brominated flame retardants (BFRs). Column chromatography and liquid chromatography (LC) techniques have been used, mainly in the clean-up phase, while gas chromatography (GC) has been used extensively in the final determination of these contaminants. Developments have been observed from the use of packed GC columns, via capillary columns to the use of heart-cut multi-dimensional GC and comprehensive multi-dimensional GC. The progress made in interlaboratory studies and the availability of certified reference materials are discussed.     

Simultaneous Determination of Carbamate and Organophosphorus Pesticides in Honeybees by Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

Summary The potential of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) has been studied for the simultaneous determination of sixteen carbamate and organophosphorus pesticides in honeybees using a traditional sample preparation protocol based on acetone extraction and dichloromethane partitioning. The performances of both atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) and electrospray (ES) interfaces were compared. APCI offered better sensitivity and specificity for a higher range of pesticides. Limits of quantification were from 0.01 to 0.17 mg kg^–1, at which recoveries obtained were between 64 and 93%, except for pirimicarb that was at 13%, with relative standard deviations ranging from 7 to 20%. Fenitrothion, fenoxycarb, methiocarb and phoxim were found in bees from Valencian Community beehives at concentrations between 0.03 and 3.75 mg kg^–1.     

Determination of multiple pesticide residues in teas by gas chromatography with accurate time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry

In this work, gas chromatography tandem with electron ionization and full‐scan high‐resolution mass spectrometry with a time‐of‐flight mass analyzer was evaluated for analyzing pesticide residues in teas. The relevant aspects for mass spectrometry analysis, including the resolution and mass accuracy, acquisition rate, temperature of ion source, were investigated. Under acquisition condition in 2‐GHz extended dynamic range mode, accurate mass spectral library including 184 gas chromatography detectable pesticides was established and retrieval parameters were optimized. The mass spectra were consistent over a wide concentration range (three orders) with good match values to those of NIST (EI‐quadrupole). The methodology was verified by the validation of 184 pesticides in four tea matrices. A wide linear range (1–1000 μg/kg) was obtained for most compounds in four matrices. Limit of detection, limit of quantification, and limit of identification values acquired in this study could satisfy the requirements for maximum residue levels prescribed by the European Community. Recovery studies were performed at three concentrations (10, 50, and 100 μg/kg). Most of the analytes were recovered at an acceptable range of 70–120% with relative standard deviations ≤ 20% in four matrices. The potential extension of qualitative screening scope makes gas chromatography tandem with electron ionization and mass spectrometry with a time‐of‐flight mass analyzer a more powerful tool compared with gas chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry.     

The synthesis of symmetrical bis-1,2,5-thiadiazole ligands

We have been engaged in a search for coordination catalysts for the copolymerization of polar monomers (such as vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate) with ethylene. We have been investigating complexes of late transition metals with heterocyclic ligands. In this report we describe the synthesis of a symmetrical bis-thiadiazole. We have characterized one of the intermediates using single crystal X-ray diffraction. Several unsuccessful approaches toward 1 are also described, which shed light on some of the unique chemistry of thiadiazoles.     

Silica‐based magnetic hybrid nanocomposite for the extraction and preconcentration of some organophosphorus pesticides before gas chromatography

The precise control of pesticide residues in foodstuffs depends significantly on the clean extraction of analytes using specifically designed separation methods. In this study, a one‐pot sol–gel process was used for the preparation of a magnetic hybrid silica gel tetraethylortho silicate‐cyanopropyltriethoxy silane nanocomposite. The prepared material was characterized using energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, single‐point specific surface area, and scanning electron microcopy. The synthesized magnetic hybrid material was used as a solid phase extraction sorbent for the extraction and preconcentration of some organophosphorus pesticides before gas chromatography with a microelectron capture detector. The performance of the proposed magnetic solid‐phase extraction technique was validated by linearity (0.05–2 ng/mL), correlation coefficients (r² = 0.9993–0.9997), limit of detection (0.02–0.06 ng/mL, S/N = 3, n = 3), and intraday (RSD = 1.5–8.7%, n = 3) and interday precision (RSD = 5.5–9.3%, n = 12), while the recovery in real samples and equilibrium adsorption capacity was 72.02–103.84% and 8–20 mg/g, respectively. The magnetic solid‐phase extraction based on the hybrid nanocomposite revealed a high enrichment factor, an appropriate dynamic range, and great absorptive ability toward the selected organophosphorus pesticides spiked in real water samples.     

十二烷基季铵盐及其与十二烷基硫酸钠混合体系的表面活性

通过表面张力测定，研究了十二烷基季铵盐Ｃ１２Ｈ２５Ｎ（ＣｎＨ２ｎ＋１）３Ｂｒ（ｎ＝１，２，３，４）及其与十二烷基硫酸钠混合体系的表面活性，应用规则溶液理论，计算了混合体系表面吸附层和胶团的组成及分子相互作用参数，对于季铵盐、极性基影响大：ｃｍｃ随ｎ增加而下降，γｃｍｃ则先上升，后下降，自极性基碳链的空间阻碍、疏水、弯曲效应，以及电荷屏蔽效应可对此予以解释，对于混合体系，极性基大小对其表面活性及胶团     

Combination of solid-phase extraction-hollow fiber for ultra-preconcentration of some triazole pesticides followed by gas chromatography-flame ionization detection

In this study, an extraction and preconcentration technique using solid-phase extraction (SPE) along with hollow fiber (HF) has been developed as an ultra-preconcentration technique for some triazole pesticides in aqueous samples. Triazole pesticides were employed as model compounds to assess the method and were monitored by gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID). Initially, an aqueous solution of target analytes was passed through an RP-8 SPE cartridge and then the adsorbed analytes were eluted with μL amounts of toluene. The collected elute was slowly introduced into an HF that had one end blocked. This allowed precipitation inside the lumen and pores of the HF. Finally, the obtained HF was mounted on a home-made solid-phase microextraction syringe and entered into the GC injection port for thermal desorption-GC analysis. The effect of various experimental parameters including injection port temperature, desorption time, state of HF, washing solvent, elution solvent and its volume, sample volume, etc. were investigated for finding the optimum conditions. The calibration graphs were linear in the ranges of 2-1000 ng/mL (penconazole and hexaconazole), 5-1000 ng/mL (tebuconazole), 15-1000 ng/mL (triticonazole) and the detection limits (LODs) ranged from 0.6 to 4.5 ng/mL. The enhancement factors were in the range of 870-950. The relative standard deviations (RSD%) for five repeated experiments (C=250 ng/mL of each pesticide) varied from 4.5 to 8.7%. The relative recoveries obtained for analytes in grape juice samples, spiked with different levels of each pesticide, were in the range of 87-119%.