China: forward to the green pesticides via a basic research program.

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Science
• Environmental Chemistry
• Toxicology

Background:

• China's 973 Program supports basic research and scientific infrastructure development.
• The green chemical pesticide research program aims to develop safer crop protection solutions.
• Training young scientists is a key objective of national research initiatives.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish China's capacity for basic research in green pesticide discovery.
• To develop novel pesticides with unique modes of action and high pest selectivity.
• To ensure pesticides possess favorable environmental and human safety profiles.

Main Methods:

• Employed a target-based discovery strategy for pesticide development.
• Utilized chemoinformatics and computation-aided design (QSAR, QAAR).
• Incorporated sensitive bioassays, combinatorial synthesis, and hit-to-lead optimization.

Main Results:

• Established core technologies in pesticide design and discovery.
• Identified biological targets including resistance-acetylcholinesterase (AChE), insect growth regulators (IGR), and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR).
• Laid the groundwork for molecular target-oriented innovation in Stage 2.

Conclusions:

• Stage 1 successfully built foundational capabilities for green pesticide research in China.
• The program fostered expertise in advanced computational and experimental methodologies.
• Key learnings from Stage 1 will inform future molecular target-oriented pesticide innovation.