Computer-aided toxicity prediction and potential risk assessment of two novel neonicotinoids, paichongding and cycloxaprid, to hydrobionts

Paichongding (IPP) and cycloxaprid (CYC) have been effectively used as the alternative products of imidacloprid (IMI) against IMI-resistant insects and exhibit a great market potential. However, risk assessment of IPP and CYC for non-target organisms, especially ecological risk assessment for non-target aquatic organisms, is still lacking. Here, we predicted the toxicity and potential risks of IPP, CYC, and their transformation products (TPs) to hydrobionts. The results indicated that IPP and CYC could generate 428 and 113 TPs, respectively, via aerobic microbial transformation. Nearly half of the IPP TPs and nearly 41 % of the CYC TPs exhibited high or moderate toxicity to Daphnia or fish. Moreover, we found that IPP, CYC, and 80 TPs of them posed potential risks to aquatic ecosystems. Almost all harmful TPs contained a 6-chloropyridine ring structure, suggesting that this structure may be associated with the strong toxicity of these TPs to aquatic organisms, and these TPs (IPP-TP2 or CYC-TP2, IPP-TP197 or CYC-TP71, IPP-TP198 or CYC-TP72, and IPP-TP212 or CYC-TP80) may appear in aquatic environments as final products. The risks posed by these TPs to aquatic ecosystems require more attention. This study provides insights into the toxicity and ecological risks of IPP and CYC.