METHOD OF PREPARING AN AGROCHEMICAL COMPOSITION WITH REDUCED TOXICITY BY MILLING A PREMIX OF A PESTICIDE AND A HYDROPHOBIN

Abstract

The invention relates to a method of preparing an agrochemical composition comprising the steps of preparing a premix by contacting a solid water-insoluble pesticide and a hydrophobin and preparing a raw suspension by milling the premix; an agrochemical composition which is obtainable by said method; a use and method of application of hydrophobin for reducing the toxicity of a solid water-insoluble pesticide; a method of controlling phytopathogenic fungi and/or undesired plant growth and/or undesired insect or mite attack and/or for regulating the growth of plants; and seed containing said suspension.

Claims

1-16. (canceled)

17. A method of preparing an agrochemical composition comprising the steps of a) preparing a premix by contacting a solid water-insoluble pesticide and a hydrophobin, and b) preparing a raw suspension by milling the premix; wherein the water-insoluble pesticide is a polyhalogenated pesticide comprising at least two halogen atoms.

18. The method according to claim 17, where in step a) additionally water is contacted.

19. The method according to claim 17, where in step a) additionally a dispersing agent is contacted.

20. The method according to claim 17, where the pesticide in the raw suspension has an average particle size of below 10 μm.

21. The method according to claim 17, where the premix comprises at least 200 g/l of the pesticide.

22. The method according to claim 17, where the hydrophobin is a polypeptide of the general formula (III)
X.sub.n—C.sup.1—X.sub.5-9—C.sup.2—C.sup.3—X.sub.11-39—C.sup.4—X.sub.2-23—C.sup.5—X.sub.5-9—C.sup.6—C.sup.7—X.sub.6-18—C.sup.8—X.sub.m   (III) wherein X stands for any of the 20 naturally occuring amino acids (Phe, Leu, Ser, Tyr, Cys, Trp, Pro, His, Gln, Arg, Ile Met, Thr, Asn, Lys, Val, Ala, Asp, Glu, Gly) and wherein the assigned indexes stand for the number of amino acids, wherein the indexes n and m stand for numbers from 0 to 200, C stands for Cystein and at least one of the polypeptide sequences Xm or Xn stands for a peptide sequence of at least 40 amino acids, which is not naturally connected to a hydrophobin, and wherein the hydrophobin causes a shift of the contact angle after coating of a glass surface of at least 20°.

23. The method according to claim 17, where the hydrophobin of formula (III) comprises at least one hydrophobin selected from dewA, rodA, hypA, hypB, sc3, basf1, basf2 or parts or derivatives thereof.

24. The method according to claim 17, where the water-insoluble pesticide is selected from chlorothalonil and fluxapyroxad.

25. An agrochemical composition comprising a solid water-insoluble pesticide and a hydrophobin, where the composition is obtainable by the method as defined in claim 17.

26. The composition according claim 25, wherein the composition comprises from 0.1 g/l to 10 g/l of the hydrophobin.

27. The composition according to claim 25 in form of an aqueous suspension concentrate, which comprises from 30 to 75 wt % of water.

28. The composition according to claim 27, wherein the suspension concentrate comprises at least 100 g/l of the pesticide, from 0.5 g/l to 10 g/l of the hydrophobin, and at least 5 g/l of a dispersing agent.

29. The method of controlling phytopathogenic fungi and/or undesired plant growth and/or undesired insect or mite attack and/or for regulating the growth of plants, wherein the composition of claim 25 is allowed to act on the respective pests, their environment or the crop plants to be protected from the respective pest, on the soil and/or on undesired plants and/or on the crop plants and/or on their environment.

30. Method for reducing the toxicity of a solid water-insoluble pesticide comprising the step of contacting the water-insoluble pesticide with a hydrophobin.

31. Seed treated with the composition of claim 25.

32. The method of claim 29, where the hydrophobin is a polypeptide of the general formula (III)
Xn-C.sup.1-X5-9-C2-C3-X11-39-C4-X2-23-C5-X5-9-C6-C7-X6-18-C8-X.sub.m   (III) wherein X stands for any of the 20 naturally occuring amino acids (Phe, Leu, Ser, Tyr, Cys, Trp, Pro, His, Gln, Arg, Ile Met, Thr, Asn, Lys, Val, Ala, Asp, Glu, Gly) and wherein the assigned indexes stand for the number of amino acids, wherein the indexes n and m stand for numbers from 0 to 200, C stands for Cystein and at least one of the polypeptide sequences Xm or Xn stands for a peptide sequence of at least 40 amino acids, which is not naturally connected to a hydrophobin, and wherein the hydrophobin causes a shift of the contact angle after coating of a glass surface of at least 20°.

33. The method of claim 29, where the hydrophobin of formula (III) comprises at least one hydrophobin selected from dewA, rodA, hypA, hypB, sc3, basf1, basf2 or parts or derivatives thereof.

Description

EXAMPLES

[0106] Antifoamer: Silicon defoamer. [0107] Wetting Agent: Polymer of hydroxybenzenesulfonic acid, formaldehyde, phenol and urea. [0108] Ionic Surfactant A: Alkyl naphthalene sulfonate formaldehyde condensate, sodium salt. [0109] Nonionic Surfactant A: Tristyrylphenyl ethoxylate phosphate ester, triethylamine salt, pH (5%, aqueous) 7.5, boiling point greater 100° C. [0110] Bactericide: Aqueous mix of 2-methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one and 1,2-benzisothiazolin -3-one. [0111] Hydrophobin A: Spray-granulated yaad-Hydrophobin DewA-His.sub.6protein Cloning, fermentation and purification was accomplished according to WO 2006/131564, Examples 1, 2, 7 and 8.

Example-1

Preparation of Fluxapyroxad and Chlorothalonil Suspension Concentrate

[0112] A Fluxapyroxad and Chlorothalonil suspension concentrate was prepared by mixing water, Adjuvant A, the Ionic Surfactant A, the Wetting Agent, the pesticides, the Hydrophobin A and the Antifoamer. This mixture was wet-milled using a bead mill to a particle size of 2 μm. Propylene glycol, Bactericide, Xanthan Gum and water were added and mixed resulting in a uniform suspension of pH 7.5 to 8.5. The final concentration of the components is given in Table 1.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Component Concentration in g/l Fluxapyroxad 37.5 Chlorothalonil 375 Hydrophobin A 2.2 1,2-Propylene Glycol 50 Ionic Surfactant A 18 Nonionic Surfactant A 9.0 Xanthan Gum 3.0 Bactericide 2.0 Antifoamer 5.0 Wetting Agent 5.0 Water To 1 liter

Example-2

Acute Inhalation Toxicity Evaluation

[0113] Two suspension concentrates were prepared according to Example-1, wherein in one of them the admixture of Hydrophobin A was omitted. They were subsequently used for determination of the acute inhalation toxicity by following the OECD Guideline for the Testing of Chemicals, No. 403 (Adopted version from September 7, 2009), and the corresponding Guidance Document GD 39 (Effective date: July 21, 2009). According to Guideline 67/548/EWG (Amended version, effective on Jan. 20, 2009), the results from this study led to a classification of T/T.sup.+ for the suspension concentrate without Hydrophobin A, whereas the suspension concentrate in admixture with Hydrophobin A was classified as Xn.

[0114] Therefore, the addition of Hydrophobin A clearly reduces the toxicity of the agrochemical composition.