A Non-Volatile Pro-Dicamba Herbicide Inspired by Meclofenoxate

Abstract

Dicamba is a popular herbicide with rising use but is also notorious for volatility drift. Inspired by meclofenoxate, which we show to be highly herbicidal, we developed a derivative of dicamba with an ester-bond to 2-dimethylaminoethanol. It remained herbicidal but is non-volatile, entering plants intact and hydrolyzing inside leaves to dicamba and 2-dimethylaminoethanol. This pro-dicamba is compatible with the relatively novel dicamba monooxygenase tolerance technology, suggesting pro-dicamba might be a suitable, non-volatile replacement for dicamba.

Keywords: Arabidopsis; Dicamba; Herbicides; Volatility drift.