A Non-Volatile Pro-Dicamba Herbicide Inspired by Meclofenoxate

Joel Haywood; Karen J Breese; M Jordi Muria-Gonzalez; Kalia Bernath-Levin; Mark Waters; Keith A Stubbs; Joshua S Mylne

doi:10.1002/chem.202404282

A Non-Volatile Pro-Dicamba Herbicide Inspired by Meclofenoxate

Chemistry. 2025 Jan 8:e202404282. doi: 10.1002/chem.202404282. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Joel Haywood¹, Karen J Breese², M Jordi Muria-Gonzalez³, Kalia Bernath-Levin², Mark Waters², Keith A Stubbs⁴, Joshua S Mylne³

Affiliations

¹ Curtin University Bentley Campus: Curtin University, Molecular and Life Sciences, Building 304, Kent street, Bentley, 6151, Perth, AUSTRALIA.
² The University of Western Australia, School of Molecular Sciences, AUSTRALIA.
³ Curtin University Bentley Campus: Curtin University, School of Molecular and Life Sciences, AUSTRALIA.
⁴ University of Western Australia, Chemistry M313, 35 Strirling Highway, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, 6009, Crawley, AUSTRALIA.

PMID: 39779471
DOI: 10.1002/chem.202404282

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.