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Commentary: Making Green Pesticides Greener? The Potential of Plant Products for Nanosynthesis and Pest Control

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Abstract

The resurgence of interest on natural substances and their progressive affirmation in the market open doors for novel marketed products, with intrinsic original approaches. Evident examples are in the food supplements sector as well as in mix of synthetic drugs and natural substances, as novel drugs. A decisive key role will be played by technology and the capacity of throw novel opportunities out of the normal landscape. As in other fields, most of the future technology developments rely on nanotechnology. In this Commentary, after the discussion focused on the novel roles of natural products, we report the recent results in the application of nanotechnology in one of the most relevant challenge for mankind, consisting in the resurgence of important vector-borne diseases and emergence of new epidemic alerts. In particular, the green synthesis of nanopesticides is cheap and environmental friendly, since it does not require the employment of highly toxic chemicals or elevate energy inputs. In the conclusions, a brief agenda summarizing the challenges for nano-based pest control is outlined.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Charles M. Lukehart for inviting this commentary on Journal of Cluster Science in occasion on the Special Issue co-edited by Charles M. Lukehart and Giovanni Benelli “Applications of green-synthesized nanoparticles in pharmacology, parasitology and entomology”.

Funding

G. Benelli is sponsored by PROAPI (PRAF 2015) and University of Pisa, Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Grant ID No.: COFIN2015_22). R. Pavela would like to thank the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic, Project No. QJ1610082.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, via del Borghetto 80, 56124, Pisa, Italy

    Giovanni Benelli

  2. Department of Secondary Plant Metabolites in Crop Protection, Crop Research Institute, Drnovska 507, 161 06, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    Roman Pavela

  3. School of Pharmacy, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy

    Filippo Maggi & Riccardo Petrelli

  4. Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Marcello Nicoletti

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  1. Giovanni Benelli
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  2. Roman Pavela
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  3. Filippo Maggi
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  5. Marcello Nicoletti
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Correspondence to Giovanni Benelli.

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Benelli, G., Pavela, R., Maggi, F. et al. Commentary: Making Green Pesticides Greener? The Potential of Plant Products for Nanosynthesis and Pest Control. J Clust Sci 28, 3–10 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10876-016-1131-7

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