A new paradigm in agrochemistry by manipulating structural bulk

The advent of agriculture has played a decisive role in humankind’s ability to create localized settlements, which has consequently led to the development of complex societies.With increases in human population, the need for reliable large-scale agriculture grew.

Sustenance of modern society is a significant societal challenge and relies heavily on two factors: fertilization and crop protection.

While the Haber-Bosch process, and related concepts, have contributed to solving the former, crop protection remains a key issue.

Significant innovation in many key areas is necessary to enhance the effectiveness of crop protection, as the invention of economically viable processes for the creation of novel types of crop protection agents will play a decisive role in enabling agriculture to sustain the world’s population.In a project supported by the ERC CoG VINCAT, Nuno Maulide and his group (at the Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of Vienna, Austria) have made groundbreaking discoveries that could significantly impact the production of agriculturally relevant compounds.

The goal of the ERC PoC project AGROSTERICS is to implement this technology to ultimately demonstrate its efficacy and to develop an appropriate market analysis and IP strategy