Sugar‐Armored Pesticides: Self‐Assembled System for Enhanced Foliar Adhesion and Sustained Delivery of Hydrophobic Antimicrobials Against Bacterial Diseases

ABSTRACT Naturally hydrophobic characteristics of most pesticides seriously affect their effective deposition and bioavailability on susceptible plants, causing inevitable off‐target movement and environmental pollution. To solve this problem, we employ supramolecular self‐assembly strategies to deliver and remedy such defective pesticides, thereby creating a self‐assembled, multifunctional delivery system—PyE28@HP‐ β ‐CD, which comprises a high‐performance pyridyl ether microbicide (PyE28) complexed with 2‐hydroxypropyl‐ β ‐cyclodextrin (HP‐ β ‐CD). This approach transforms insoluble hexagonal sheet structures (PyE28) into biocompatible sugar‐armored spherical assemblies (PyE28@HP‐ β ‐CD) with sustained release profiles in aqueous environment, ultimately improving the physicochemical/biological properties and targeted delivery efficiency of hydrophobic pesticides. The advancement concretely manifests as: (i) markedly enhanced foliar deposition via improved wetting coverage and reduced interfacial tension (contact angle decreased by 18°), (ii) effective biofilm disruption (achieving an 81.40% biofilm reduction at 23.3 µg mL −1 ) through suppression of extracellular polysaccharide biosynthesis, and (iii) superior bactericidal activity against Xanthomonas pathogens mediated by oxidative damage amplification and redox homeostasis interference. In vivo evaluations demonstrated that PyE28@HP‐ β ‐CD at 200 µg mL −1 effectively suppressed citrus canker and rice bacterial blight by 79.73% and 45.53%, respectively, superior to conventional bactericides by 30.76% and 20.33%. This study presents a supramolecular self‐assembly approach to optimize hydrophobic agrochemical delivery, combining sustained release with on‐demand precision.