The aim of this paper is to replace toxic coinitiators (tertiary amines) by non-toxic compounds such as glycerol and inositol (polyalcohol) in dimethacrylate resins. For this purpose, mid infrared spectroscopy (MIR) was used to calculate the monomers' degree of conversion (%DC); as well as simultaneous Thermogravimetric Analysis – Differential Thermal Analysis (TGA-DTA) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) were conducted to evaluate thermal stability, degradation steps, and thermal events. The use of different initiator systems did not modify the thermal events or the thermal stability of each of the dimethacrylate resins. Results show a substitution of system 2 (toxicity) by system 3 (low toxicity), which had a good conversion velocity and total conversion in some monomers, is plausible.

A study was made to evaluate the effect of a castor oil-based detergent on strawberry crops treated with different classes of pesticides, namely deltamethrin, folpet, tebuconazole, abamectin and mancozeb, in a controlled environment. Experimental crops of greenhouse strawberries were cultivated in five different ways with control groups using pesticides and castor oil-based detergent. The results showed that the group 2, which was treated with castor oil-based detergent, presented the lowest amount of pesticide residues and the highest quality of fruit produced.

The presence of residues of the major groups of pesticides (organohalogen, organophosphorous, pyrethroids and organonitrogen) in representative samples of honey produced in Bauru (state of São Paulo, Brazil) was investigated from 1999 through2004. A multiresidue method was applied to honey samples to determine 48 pesticides with recoveries ranging from 76 to 95%. The limits of detection found were lower than 10 µg/kg for GC-MS-SIM. The results indicated that most pesticides found in the samples belonged to the organohalogen and organonitrogen groups. Residues of malathion were detected in almost all of the samples in high concentration.