Registration of (natural) complex substances: Using the molecular barcode as a fingerprinting method
Registration of (natural) complex substances: Using the molecular barcode as a fingerprinting method
On Wednesday December 3rd, 2025, Kerona Scientific held its 6th Virtual Dublin Plant Protection Symposium. This annual event serves as a platform to delve into critical issues within the EU and GB/NI landscapes, drawing insights from key stakeholders in the plant protection industry. Among the various speakers, Dr Ingrid Sterenborg (ERT, Senior Toxicologist, Triskelion, Netherlands) gave a fascinating presentation on the “Registration of (natural) complex substances: Using the molecular barcode as a fingerprinting method”.
The need for such identification methods has been spurred on by the increased use of biologicals (microorganisms, botanicals, semiochemicals and peptides) over traditional active substances. However, biologicals have variable or unknown compositions which can complicate the preparation of dossiers. Identification is a cornerstone of determining the hazards associated with a substance (risk assessment) and you have to be able to identify all the components present in your active substances in quantities of 1g/kg or more (for at least 980 g/kg of the analysed materials).
Despite there being a Guidance Document on botanical active substances in plant protection products (SANCO/11470/2012-REV 8), the definition of a “chemical fingerprint” is quite vague and offers no explanation on how to perform such a method. Triskelion’s molecular barcode™ looks at the similarities between samples (LC-MS datasets) before assessing the differences. The method allows a 5 batch analysis to be run generating barcodes which can then be used to determine the correlation between different batches. Going back to risk assessment, this tool can be used to select components of possible concern for further analysis.
Preparation of dossiers for complex mixtures requires a tailor made approach and depends on the amount of available information for the mixture or its constituents. Triskelion’s molecular barcode™ can be used as a tool to streamline fingerprinting and in identifying components of possible concern lending to a better understanding of complex mixtures.
If you missed the Dublin Plant Protection Symposium, please contact Kerona if you wish to obtain a copy of the presentations. For assistance with the Regulation of PPP in the EU and UK the Kerona Regulatory team can be contacted at info@kerona.ie