Sulfonamide in agricultural pest management: past and recent prospects

The sulfonamide moiety (-SO₂NH-) is a structurally versatile motif in agrochemical discovery. It can engage in hydrogen bonding, modulate molecular polarity and acidity, and act as a bioisostere or linking fragment in ligand design. Inspired by the mechanism of sulfonamide antibiotics, researchers have developed a range of agrochemicals active against plant pathogens and weeds. However, the development of sulfonamide-based agrochemicals has been unbalanced: commercial products are mainly concentrated in herbicides and some fungicides, whereas research on insecticides, antiviral and plant-growth regulators remains largely at the greenhouse trial stage. In fungicide research, chesulfamide derivatives, triazole sulfonamide and sulfonamide-bearing succinate dehydrogenase inhibitor candidates exhibit diverse molecular optimization strategies. Acetolactate synthase and protoporphyrinogen IX oxidase inhibitors clearly demonstrate that structural modification can modulate the weed control spectrum and crop selectivity; nevertheless, single-target herbicides are constantly confronted with the challenge of weed resistance. In the insecticidal and antiviral fields, the sulfonamide group is commonly used as an activity-modulating linker or recognition motif. Multiple studies have reported sulfonamide compounds targeting vacuolar-type H⁺-ATPase, viral coat protein or plant defense pathways. Sulfonamide abscisic acid (ABA) analogs further validate the utility of this motif in plant-growth regulation and stress response research. This article systematically reviews sulfonamide compounds for their herbicidal, fungicidal, bactericidal, insecticidal and antiviral activities, and summarizes their roles as ABA functional analogs over the past 20 years. Particular attention is given to representative scaffolds, structure-activity relationship and proposed targets or mechanisms. © 2026 Society of Chemical Industry.