I-Corps: Higher-potency Insecticidal Dusts by Solid-State Transformation

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of insecticidal formulations that extend the life of current active ingredients that are failing due to widespread resistance. The development of resistance to exogenous insecticidal chemicals

forces the need to invent new active ingredients with new mechanisms of action. The goal of the proposed technology is to provide more effective formulations that may serve to repurpose existing insecticides that were earlier thought to no longer be effective. Reformulating known insecticidal compounds to increase efficacy may be an alternative to the costly development of new active ingredients.

Further, reformulating known insecticidal compounds in more bioavailable forms may be cheaper, less risky, greener, and faster. Little engineering or research and development to replace existing products. The outcomes of this endeavor are broadly applicable to the control of urban pests, pet protection, agriculture, and public health.

Markets for new products extend from deadly mosquito control (malaria has been confirmed in the United States for the first time in decades) to bed bug eradication, or simple pet collars. Products commonly sold in hardware stores may be reengineered by the proposed process.

This I-Corps project is based on the development of insecticidal chemical formulations that employ activated crystalline forms of contact insecticides that have not been previously discovered. Contact insecticides that are the mainstays of pest control are failing due to widespread resistance among vector populations, a major public health challenge.

Insecticide resistance also has been found in urban pests such as bedbugs and cockroaches. Insecticides that work on contact often involve crystals, but exploiting the relative activity of different crystals of the same compound has not been investigated. The proposed technology has been shown to overcome resistance among resistant malarial mosquitoes from West Africa.

In this study, the common insecticide deltamethrin was reformulated to contain a new solid form of the active ingredient dispersed on chalk. The new solid form is prepared in situ by a simple and inexpensive method that may enhance deltamethrin’s efficacy against a wide variety of arthropods. The proposed technology may enhance the ability to eliminate insects with deltamethrin, and overcome organisms with vexing resistance that compromises disease prophylaxis.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.