Valliappan Kannappan

Precision at the Molecular Level, Sustainability in the Field 🌱 Introduction Sustainable agriculture aims to balance crop productivity with environmental protection and food safety. Agrochemicals play a central role in pest management, but their widespread use has raised concerns about resistance, biodiversity loss, and long-term ecological impacts. Chirality offers a path toward sustainability because enantiopure …

Episode 8: Sustainable Pest Management and Chirality Read More »

🌿 Nature’s Handedness, Agriculture’s Inspiration. Introduction Nature is the ultimate chemist, and chirality is one of its most powerful design principles. Many of the most effective agrochemicals are inspired by or derived directly from natural compounds, which are overwhelmingly chiral. These natural products serve as templates for synthetic agrochemistry, guiding the development of pesticides, herbicides, …

Episode 5: Natural Products as Chiral Templates Read More »

🌱When Molecular Handedness Determines Fungal Control for a More Sustainable Future. 🍄 Introduction Fungal infections cause devastating losses in agriculture, threatening global food security. Fungicides are therefore essential tools in crop protection. Many fungicides are chiral, and their enantiomers can differ significantly in fungicidal potency, environmental behavior, and toxicity to non-target organisms. The stereochemistry of …

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🌱 Herbicides Have Two Faces — Chirality Decides Their Impact.” 🧬 Introduction Herbicides are among the most widely used agrochemicals worldwide. They are applied to protect crops from weed competition, ensuring higher yields and food security. A significant number of herbicides are chiral, and their enantiomers often show large differences in biological activity, environmental fate, …

Episode 3: Herbicides and the Role of Chirality Read More »