MICROBIO: A NOVEL MICROEMULSION AS AN EFFICIENT

TANK-MIX ADJUVANT FOR HERBICIDE TREATMENTS

Alberto Colombo, Gianfranco Paganini and Peter Bohus

Cesalpinia Chemicals SpA (Lamberti Group), Agro Chemistry Laboratory

via Piave 18; 21041 Albizzate (VA) – Italy

Corresponding author: alberto.colombo@lamberti.com

Fatty acid esters from transesterification of vegetable oils, alkylpolyglucosides and

ethoxylated fatty alcohols have individually been widely used as tank-mix or built-in
adjuvants for herbicides. Recently, a new class of anionic esters of alkylpolyglucoside have
been described as novel tank-mix adjuvants (1,2), which appear to have good potential as
adjuvants in agro-chemistry.
Microemulsion is a highly effective physical form of agrochemical delivery system, which
combines stability of complex formulations, performance and easy handling.
We have developed a stable microemulsion (Microbio® from Cesalpinia Chemicals SpA,
Italy) containing a citric ester of alkylpolyglucoside, fatty acid esters from
transesterification of a vegetable oil and an ethoxylated fatty alcohol, which proved to be a
higly effective adjuvant with different herbicide actives. It was developed by optimizing
physico-chemical properties in order to improve stability, synergism amongst components
and compatibility with various pesticide formulations.
Surface tension and sinking time of the microemulsion system are lower than a
corresponding emulsifiable vegetable oil, suggesting better wetting properties.
Spreading of aqueous solutions, evaluated from dynamic contact angle determinations in
comparison to a solution of ethoxylated fatty alcohol, indicates that the higher the
concentration of Microbio, the lower the contact angle measured.
Particle size distribution falls within the microemulsion range (3), while the flow curve of
Microbio shows a Newtonian behaviour, whereby viscosity is independent of shear rate.
Thermodynamic parameters derived from rheological studies suggest an intrinsic stability
of Microbio, as reported in literature for a similar system (4).
Biological efficacy in weed control of various tank-mix combinations of the adjuvant with
different active ingredients was studied using standard, commercial herbicide formulations,
and compared to a well known commercial adjuvant (Hasten®, from Victorian Chemicals,
Australia). Three herbicide-weed combinations of Microbio as tank mix adjuvant were
examined: one water soluble herbicide (Bentazone Na salt, alias Basagran® from BASF)
applied on Black nightshade; two water insoluble actives (Nicosulfuron and Quizalofop-P-
ethyl, alias Milagro® from Syngenta and Targa Prestige® from Bayer, respectively) applied
on Wild oat. These herbicide actives were applied at sub-optimal dosages, while the
concentration of our new adjuvant or Hasten was constant at 0.25% (v/v) in water. At all
hebicide dosages tested, Microbio showed either an equal or better efficacy than Hasten.
The innovative aspects of this new adjuvant microemulsion will be discussed.
 REFERENCES

1. Bohus, P., Colombo, A.; 2004. Proceedings of 7th International Symposium on

Adjuvants for Agrochemicals, Cape Town, SA pp 301 – 306
2. European Patents n° EP 510564
3. Tadros, T. F.; 2005. Applied Surfactants; Wiley-VCH; Weinheim pp 309 – 311
4. Acharya, A., Ghosal, S.K., Moulik, S.P., Subramanian, N. et al.; 2005. Chem. Pharm.
Bull. vol 53(12) pp 1530 –1535.

Acknowledgements
We wish to thank Dr. Hans de Ruiter for very helpful suggestions and collaboration.