With mounting concerns over health and environmental effects of pesticides, the search for environmentally acceptable substitutes has amplified. Plant secondary metabolites appear in the horizon as an attractive solution for green crop protection. This paper reviews the need for changes in the techniques and compounds that, until recently, have been the mainstay for dealing with pest insects. Here we describe and discuss main strategies for selecting plant-derived metabolites as candidates for sustainable agriculture. The second part surveys ten important insecticidal compounds, with special emphasis on those involved in human health. Many of these insecticidal metabolites, however, are crystalline solids with limited solubility which might potentially hamper commercial formulation. As such, we introduce the concept of natural deep eutectic solvents for enhancing solubility and stability of such compounds. The concept, principles and examples of green pest control discussed here offer a new suite of environmental-friendly tools designed to promote and adopt sustainable agriculture.

中文翻译：

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致力于保护农作物：天然的深共熔溶剂和防御性的次级代谢产物。

由于越来越关注农药对健康和环境的影响，对环境可接受的替代品的搜索日益增加。植物次生代谢产物作为绿色作物保护的有吸引力的解决方案出现在地平线上。本文回顾了直到最近一直是处理害虫的主要手段的技术和化合物变化的需求。在这里，我们描述并讨论了选择植物源代谢产物作为可持续农业候选者的主要策略。第二部分调查了十种重要的杀虫化合物，特别强调了与人类健康有关的化合物。然而，许多这些杀虫代谢物是溶解性有限的结晶固体，这可能会阻碍商业配方。因此，我们引入天然深共熔溶剂的概念，以增强此类化合物的溶解性和稳定性。这里讨论的绿色害虫防治的概念，原理和实例提供了一套旨在促进和采用可持续农业的环保工具。