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/HP β CD-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/HP β CD-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 HP β CD solution enhanced about 2.83 times, while the initial thermal decomposition temperature of PCNB in PCNB/HP β CD-IC-NF was also increased from 124 °C to 235 °C. The antifungal activity experiment exhibited that the antifungal activity of PCNB/HP β CD-IC-NF against Rhizoctonia solani was 2.13 times higher than that of pure PCNB. In summary, the formulation of PCNB/HP β CD-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.