Neonicotinoids are widely used to control insect pests in agriculture. Their presence in the environment can affect the health of non-target insects and aquatic animals. The behaviour of four neonicotinoids, namely imidacloprid, acetamiprid, thiacloprid and thiamethoxam, has been investigated in soils with contrasting characteristics to understand their migration in soil and ecological risk. Among the study neonicotinoids, thiamethoxam and thiacloprid were found to be the least and most sorbed neonicotinoids by all the soils, respectively (up to 186 time greater adsorption of thiacloprid), and their uptake was affected by the content of organic matter in the soil. Leaching studies in columns confirmed that thiamethoxam leached out of the soils readily, pointing out to a relatively high risk of ground water contamination with possible ecological impact when thiamethoxam is used in soils with low organic matter. In soil column studies, the soil with the lowest organic matter presents the greatest residue of neonicotinoids in the sub-surface (≤5 cm). In contrast the soil richer in organic matter presented most of the contamination deeper down in the column; a factor to be considered in the remediation from soil.

新烟碱类被广泛用于控制农业中的害虫。它们在环境中的存在会影响非目标昆虫和水生动物的健康。在土壤中研究了四种具有不同特征的新烟碱类，即吡虫啉，扑热息痛，噻虫啉和噻虫嗪的行为，以了解它们在土壤中的迁移和生态风险。在研究的新烟碱中，发现噻虫嗪和噻虫啉分别是所有土壤中吸附量最少和最多的新烟碱（噻虫啉的吸附量最多可达186倍），并且它们的吸收受到土壤有机质含量的影响。色谱柱中的浸出研究证实，噻虫嗪易于从土壤中浸出，指出当噻虫嗪用于有机质含量低的土壤中时，地下水污染的风险相对较高，可能会对生态产生影响。在土壤柱研究中，有机质含量最低的土壤在地下（≤5cm）的新烟碱残留量最大。相比之下，富含有机物的土壤则在塔内更深处呈现出大部分污染。土壤修复中要考虑的因素。