Antifungal pentachloronitrobenzene/hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin inclusion complex nanofibers by electrospun with no polymer: Fabrication and characterization

Pentachloronitrobenzene (PCNB) is an organochlorine protective fungicide with poor water solubility. In this research, pentachloronitrobenzene/hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin inclusion complex nanofibers (PCNB/HPβCD-IC-NF) with a stoichiometric ratio of 1:1 were prepared by polymer-free electrospinning for the establishment of a rapidly dissolving water-based drug delivery system. It was proved that the formation of PCNB/HPβCD-IC enhanced the water solubility and thermal stability of PCNB by phase solubility study and thermogravimetric analysis respectively. Specifically, the solubility of PCNB in 10 mM HPβCD solution enhanced about 2.83 times, while the initial thermal decomposition temperature of PCNB in PCNB/HPβCD-IC-NF was also increased from 124 °C to 235 °C. The antifungal activity experiment exhibited that the antifungal activity of PCNB/HPβCD-IC-NF against Rhizoctonia solani was 2.13 times higher than that of pure PCNB. In summary, the formulation of PCNB/HPβCD-IC-NF prepared in the present study could efficaciously improve the solvability, thermal stability and antifungal activity of PCNB, thereby promoting the development of PCNB dosage form to water-based and low-pollution, which had potential in reducing the harm of PCNB to the environment and developing clean pesticide formulations.