Sulfonylurea（SU） has become one class of the most important herbicides worldwide due to their ultralow application rate and mammalian toxicity. Recently application licenses of 3 classical SU herbicides chlorsulfuron, metsulfuron-methyl and ethametsulfuron were suspended due to their undesirable long persistence which is incompatible with the particular rotation planting system in China. Our previous study has discovered that electron-donating groups, especially dimethylamino and diethylamino substituents, on the 5 th position of the benzene ring in chlorsulfuron, greatly accelerated its degradation rate in an acidic soil（p H 5.41）. Owing to the natural slower degradation of SUs in alkaline soil,dimethylamino and diethylamino substituted chlorsulfuron Ia and Ib were further studied in an alkaline soil（p H 8.46） with chlorsulfuron as a control. The experimental data indicated that the half-life of degradation（DT50） of Ia was 3.36 days while Ib was 6.25 days which amounted to 30 and 15 folds faster than chlorsulfuron（DT5084.53 days）, respectively. The research confirmed that our newly-designed structures Ia and Ib can hasten their degradation rate in alkaline soil as well as in acidic soil. This structural modification of the classical SU provided an opportunity to control the degradation rate to reduce their impact on relevant environment and ecology.
Shaa ZhouXuewen HuaWei WeiMinggui ChenYucheng GuSha ZhouHaibin SongZhengming Li
The study of soil degradation behaviors of sulfonylurea herbicides in relation to their different structural attributes is utmost important for us to comprehend the development of new eco-friendly herbicides. It is postulated that the structural modification of the chemical structures could influence their degradation rates in soil. Nine devised structures were synthesized to study their herbicidal activity as well as their soil degradation behaviors respectively. The novel compounds I-3-I-7 were characterized by UV, ^1H NMR and ^13C NMR, MS and EA. Bioassays indicated that most of target compounds displayed superior herbicidal activities in comparison with Chlorsulfuron. Soil degradation results further confirmed our previous assumption that the introduction of electron-donating substituents at 54 position of the benzene ring distinctly increased their degradation rates, among which dimethylamino and diethylamino groups can adjust the degradation rate to a more favorable status.
