title: Rainfastness of Poly(vinyl alcohol) Deposits on Vicia faba Leaf Surfaces: From Laboratory-Scale Washing to Simulated Rain.
abstract: Rainfastness is the ability of agrochemical deposits to resist wash-off by rain and other related environmental phenomena. This work reports laboratory-scale and raintower studies of the rainfastness of fluorescently labeled poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) using fluorescent microscopy combined with image analysis. Samples of hydrolyzed PVA exhibit improved rainfastness over a threshold molecular weight, which correlates with PVA film dissolution, swelling, and crystalline properties. It was also established that the rainfastness of PVA scaled with the molecular weight over this threshold. These PVA samples were further characterized in order to determine the effect of the crystallinity on rainfastness. The quantification of rainfastness is of great interest to the field of agrochemical formulation development in order to improve the efficacy of pesticides and their adjuvants.
authors.affiliation: Reading School of Pharmacy, The University of Reading, Whiteknights , P.O. Box 224, Reading RG6 6AD, U.K.
authors.forename: Brett L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Symonds
authors.affiliation: Syngenta, Jealott's Hill International Research Centre , Bracknell, Berkshire RG42 6EY, U.K.
authors.forename: Niall R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Thomson
authors.affiliation: Syngenta, Jealott's Hill International Research Centre , Bracknell, Berkshire RG42 6EY, U.K.
authors.forename: Christopher I
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Lindsay
authors.affiliation: Reading School of Pharmacy, The University of Reading, Whiteknights , P.O. Box 224, Reading RG6 6AD, U.K.
authors.forename: Vitaliy V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Khutoryanskiy
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry*; D011142:Polyvinyl Alcohol / Q000737:chemistry*; D011143:Polyvinyl Chloride; D011891:Rain; D031307:Vicia faba / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D011143:Polyvinyl Chloride; D011142:Polyvinyl Alcohol
keywords: 5-DTAF; Vicia faba; adjuvant; agrochemical; field bean; fluorescent labeling; microscopy; poly(vinyl alcohol); rainfastness