Posted by Scott-Fordsman et al. applied the encaspsulation (lunch-box) theory well-known in drug delivery and food industry for controlled delivery of pesticides [1]. Nature contains many examples of “fake promises” to attract “prey”, e.g., predatory spiders that emit the same sex-attractant-signals as moths to catch them at close range and male spiders that make empty silk-wrapped gifts in order to mate with a female. Nano-pesticides should ideally mimic nature by luring a target and killing it without harming other organisms/species. Here, we present such an approach, called the lunch-box or deadly-goodies approach. The lunch-box consists of three main elements (1) the lure (semio-chemicals anchored on the box), (2) the box (palatable nano-carrier such as cyclodextrins), and (3) the kill (advanced targeted pesticide). To implement this approach, one needs to draw on the vast amount of chemical ecological knowledge available, combine this with recent nanomaterial techniques, and use novel advanced pesticides. Precision nano-pesticides can increase crop protection and food production whilst lowering environmental impacts.
In this approach, if a pest organism is attracted to the lunch-box, it must then “open” it, which requires that the carrier is made of a palatable/digestible material, e.g., cellulose, cyclodextrin or pectin. The “opening” could be triggered by gut digestive enzymes or physical–chemical parameters.
In an example, Kaziem et al. [2] developed a system based on cyclodextrin anchored in hollow mesoporous silica loaded with avermectin where the release was controlled by the α-amylase activity of Plutella xylostella.
Scott-Fordsmand, J.J., Fraceto, L.F. & Amorim, M.J.B. Nano-pesticides: the lunch-box principle—deadly goodies (semio-chemical functionalised nanoparticles that deliver pesticide only to target species). J Nanobiotechnol 20, 13 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12951-021-01216-5
Kaziem AE, Gao YH, Zhang Y, Qin XY, Xiao YN, Zhang YH, You H, Li JH, He S. alpha-Amylase triggered-carriers based on cyclodextrin anchored hollow mesoporous silica for enhancing insecticidal activity of avermectin against Plutella xylostella. J Hazard Mater. 2018;359:213–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2018.07.059