Insecticidal efficiency and stability of new nano- imidacloprid encapsulated by Poly(citric acid)-blockpoly( ethylene glycol) copolymers

In the current agricultural scenario, the extensive use of agrochemicals to boost agricultural production has polluted not only the top soil, but also groundwater. To reduce theharmful effects and the impacts of these compounds on the non-target organisms, controlled release formulations were developed using microencapsulation [1]. Toxicity enhancement via successful delivery of a therapeutic agent is the principal target of insecticide delivery research. The mostimportant commercially recognized technologies available for delivery of large quantities of water-insoluble insecticideswith improved performance characteristics [2]. The main purpose of the present work is to encapsulate imidacloprid in nanomaterials and produce a novel pesticide. For this purpose,imidacloprid was directly encapsulated with poly(citric acid)- poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(citric acid) (PCA-PEG-PCA) ABAtype linear-dendritic copolymers as biocompatible compounds. As it has been previously proved aqueous solutions of PCA-PEG-PCA linear-dendritic copolymers ledto their molecular self-assemblies [3]. In order to encapsulate imidacloprid, in this work the ability of the preparedmolecular self-assemblies was investigated