What are the applications of DMSO in agriculture?
The applications of dimethyl sulfoxide in agriculture include as solvent, penetrant and synergist. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) has broad application prospects in agriculture due to its unique chemical properties. This colorless, odorless organic compound not only improves the effectiveness of pesticides and fertilizers, but also provides innovative solutions for agricultural production.
The applications of DMSO in agriculture will be discussed in more depth below:
Application as solvent
Improve pesticide solubility:DMSO can effectively dissolve a variety of pesticides, thereby improving the effectiveness of pesticides. As a highly polar, high boiling point solvent, it can significantly improve the conversion rate and yield of the reaction during the pesticide synthesis process. For example, when synthesizing the herbicides acifluorfen and fomesafen, using DMSO as the reaction solvent can achieve a high conversion rate and yield in the condensation reaction.
Promote the reaction: When performing chemical reactions, the use of DMSO brings a new method and opens up a new way of chemical preparation, which plays a very good role in promoting the synthesis of pesticides. For example, in the process of preparing p-fluoronitrobenzene from the reaction of p-chloronitrobenzene, the use of DMSO can increase the reaction yield from 50% to more than 74%.
Application as penetrant
Enhance drug penetration: DMSO can carry drugs through the skin of plants and into the plants, where it can treat and promote growth. Experiments show that when non-penetrating drugs or dyes are formulated into DMSO aqueous solutions and applied to tree trunks, the presence of these substances can be detected in branches, leaves, rhizomes, and fruits 12 hours later. This shows that DMSO can effectively improve the coverage and therapeutic effect of the drug.
Prevention and treatment of fruit tree rot: Antibiotics are dissolved in DMSO and used to treat fruit tree rot, demonstrating the potential of DMSO as a penetrant in disease control.
Application as synergist
Improve the effectiveness of pesticides: DMSO, as a synergist for pesticides, can significantly improve the effectiveness of pesticides. After dissolving pesticides into DMSO, it can effectively kill heart-eating insects in trees and fruits, thereby protecting crops from pests.
Yield increase effect: Spraying soybeans and other crops with low-concentration DMSO solutions can not only optimize the use of fertilizers, but also directly promote crop growth, increasing yields by up to 10% to 15%.
Application in pesticide synthesis
Promote chemical reaction speed: DMSO is widely used in nucleophilic substitution reactions, electrophilic substitution reactions, double bond rearrangements, ester condensation reactions, etc. It can strongly solvate cations or positively charged groups, making negative ions very active in these reactions and speeding up the reaction. For example, using DMSO as a solvent in an alkylation reaction resulted in a rate that was 105 times faster than using an aprotonated solvent.
Synthesis intermediates: In the pesticide synthesis process, DMSO can not only be used as a reaction solvent, but also greatly improve the synthesis efficiency of some important intermediates. For example, when preparing diketene, an important intermediate of pesticides such as monocrotophos, pyrimidinphos, and diyanon, using DMSO as a solvent can greatly improve the conversion rate of the reaction.
In summary, DMSO has extensive and diverse applications in agriculture, not only in its direct use as a solvent, penetrant, and synergist, but also in complex chemical reactions and synthesis processes. With the continuous deepening of research, the application prospects of DMSO in the agricultural field will be broader. It is recommended that relevant researchers and enterprises continue to explore new application methods to better serve agricultural production and promote sustainable development of agriculture.
