John E. Franz

Last updated
John E. Franz
Born (1929-12-21) December 21, 1929 (age 94)
Springfield, Illinois
NationalityAmerican
Known forInventor of Roundup
Awards National Medal of Technology
Carothers Award
Perkin Medal (1990)
Scientific career
FieldsBio-Organic Chemistry

John E. Franz (born December 21, 1929) is an organic chemist who discovered the herbicide glyphosate while working at Monsanto Company in 1970. [1] The chemical became the active ingredient in Roundup, a broad-spectrum, post-emergence herbicide. Franz has earned acclaim and rewards for this breakthrough.[ promotion? ] He also has over 840 patents to his name worldwide.

Contents

Career

Franz has spent his entire career at Monsanto in St. Louis, Missouri. After finishing his Ph.D., Franz was hired by Monsanto as a Resident Chemist in 1955. [2] He focused on process research, new polymer synthesis, and the development of plasticizers and polymer flame retardants. [3] [4] Franz received two patents while working in the Organic Division, one for nitrates in 1960, and one for a fire retardant in 1967. He transferred to the Agricultural Division of Monsanto in 1967, motivated by the department's "emphasis on publishing, academic contacts, and the freedom to pursue ideas." [5] Because his background was in organic chemistry, Franz familiarized himself with the new field by spending a year studying and learning about plant physiology and biochemistry before beginning research.[ citation needed ]

Franz discovered the herbicide glyphosate, and received five dollars for his first patent from Monsanto. [4] From 1960 to 1988, he received over 840 patents worldwide, including approximately fifty in the United States. Over the course of his career, Franz published over forty papers and wrote the book Glyphosate: A Unique Global Herbicide with Michael K. Mao and James A. Sikorski. He was promoted to Senior Scientific Fellow in 1975, then Distinguished Fellow in 1980. Later in his career, he returned to the organic division to concentrate on environmentally friendly products until he retired in 1991.[ citation needed ]

Discovery of glyphosate

Researchers at Monsanto had been searching for an herbicide that was effective against annual and perennial weeds for nine years but found little success. They knew of two phosphonic acid compounds that were ineffective against weeds, and the researchers were not able to advance the compounds. Franz took over the research in 1969 and incorrectly hypothesized that the phosphonic acids acted as proherbicides that were metabolized to active compounds rather than herbicides. Franz and his research team screened possible metabolites and synthesized compounds and eventually discovered glyphosate in 1970. [2]

Although all of the patents regarding glyphosate list Franz as the sole inventor and the Monsanto Company as the assignee, Franz acknowledged that the discovery was a group effort. In 2007, when he was inducted into the National Inventor's Hall of Fame, Franz said, "It's a recognition of the entire team of scientists who worked on and supported the development of Roundup herbicides". [6] Glyphosate works by absorption through leaves, and then moving rapidly to a plant's roots, rhizomes, and meristems. This breakthrough spurred Monsanto to design and produce plants genetically immune to glyphosates in order to make it easier for farmers to thoroughly spray down their fields for weeds without killing their own crops. [7]

Once glyphosate was invented, it took four years to reach the market. It was first introduced as "Roundup", and is still best known by that brand. [2]

Glyphosate has been called by experts in herbicides "virtually ideal" due to its broad spectrum and low toxicity compared with other herbicides. [7] [8] [9] However, the chemical’s use has come under attack in numerous countries, with bans or partial bans enacted, and thousands of lawsuits filed alleging the chemical is carcinogenic. German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated in June 2019 that “we will come to a point where glyphosate isn’t used anymore.” [10] Bayer, which acquired Monsanto, stopped selling Roundup for residential use in 2023 [11] "exclusively to manage litigation risk and not because of any safety concerns". [12]

Other research

Franz undertook research in many areas during his time at Monsanto. Some of his other chemistry research includes antiauxin chemistry (isothiazoles, isoxazoles, pyrazoles), plant chemistry, cell membrane chemistry (glyceride and phospholipid syntheses, liposomes), plant hormone chemistry (abscissic acid analogs, ethylene generators), and nitride sulfide chemistry. He also performed research pertaining to reaction mechanisms, coenzyme A antimetabolites, biorational design of herbicides, and periselective addition reactions of one- and threedipoles, as well as fundamental organic research. [3]

Honors

Franz has received awards for his discovery. In 1977, he was awarded the IR-100 award by Industrial Research magazine. In 1981, he received the first J.F. Queeny Award from Monsanto to honor an invention that was also a commercial success. He was the recipient of the 1987 National Medal of Technology, one of the few agricultural technologies to ever receive the honor. Franz received the American Chemical Society’s Carothers Award in 1989 for "outstanding contributions and advances in industrial applications of chemistry". In 1990, he was awarded the Perkin Medal by the American Section of the Society of Chemical Industry, based on his contributions to the research and development of applied chemistry. Franz also won the Outstanding Achievement Award in 1988, the 1988 Missouri Award, and was named the St. Louis Metropolitan Bar Association Inventor of the Year in 1986. Roundup was named one of the "Top 10 Products That Changed the Face of Agriculture" by the magazine Farm Chemicals in 1994. Franz was inducted into the United States' Inventor's Hall of Fame on May 5, 2007. [2] [13] [14]

Monsanto has also created two awards in his honor. On December 8, 1995, the agricultural company introduced the Franz Sustainability Award, which consists of an annual $100,000 prize given to the individual or team that submits the best environmental project for improvement in the areas of conservation, technology, and/or education. [15] Soon after Franz's induction into the Inventors' Hall of Fame in 2007, Monsanto announced a new annual scholarship called the Franz Innovation Award Scholarship. This scholarship is awarded each year to a graduate student taking organic chemistry at the University of Minnesota. [16]

Patents

Franz has over 840 patents to his name concerning glyphosate and lesser known discoveries. Because of the nature of glyphosate, it requires many patents concerning identification, synthesis, and other processes required to produce the chemical. [17]

His patents include: [18]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herbicide</span> Type of chemical used to kill unwanted plants

Herbicides, also commonly known as weed killers, are substances used to control undesired plants, also known as weeds. Selective herbicides control specific weed species while leaving the desired crop relatively unharmed, while non-selective herbicides kill plants indiscriminately. The combined effects of herbicides, nitrogen fertilizer, and improved cultivars has increased yields of major crops by 3x to 6x from 1900 to 2000.

The Monsanto Company was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto's best-known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, developed in the 1970s. Later, the company became a major producer of genetically engineered crops. In 2018, the company ranked 199th on the Fortune 500 of the largest United States corporations by revenue.

Roundup is a brand name of herbicide originally produced by Monsanto, which Bayer acquired in 2018. Prior to the late-2010s formulations, it used broad-spectrum glyphosate-based herbicides. As of 2009, sales of Roundup herbicides still represented about 10 percent of Monsanto's revenue despite competition from Chinese producers of other glyphosate-based herbicides. The overall Roundup line of products represented about half of Monsanto's yearly revenue in 2009. The product is marketed to consumers by Scotts Miracle-Gro Company. In the late-2010s other non-glyphosate containing herbicides were also sold under the Roundup brand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glyphosate</span> Systemic herbicide and crop desiccant

Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide and crop desiccant. It is an organophosphorus compound, specifically a phosphonate, which acts by inhibiting the plant enzyme 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSP). It is used to kill weeds, especially annual broadleaf weeds and grasses that compete with crops. Its herbicidal effectiveness was discovered by Monsanto chemist John E. Franz in 1970. Monsanto brought it to market for agricultural use in 1974 under the trade name Roundup. Monsanto's last commercially relevant United States patent expired in 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boliviana negra</span>

Boliviana negra, also known as supercoca or la millionaria, is a form of coca that is purportedly resistant to the herbicide glyphosate. The coca plant is the source of the potentially addictive stimulant cocaine, a prescription drug and one of the most widely consumed illegal drugs in the world and the source of large amounts of money to various criminal organizations. Glyphosate is a key ingredient in the multibillion-dollar aerial coca eradication campaign undertaken by the government of Colombia with U.S. financial and military backing known as Plan Colombia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glufosinate</span> Broad-spectrum herbicide

Glufosinate is a naturally occurring broad-spectrum herbicide produced by several species of Streptomyces soil bacteria. Glufosinate is a non-selective, contact herbicide, with some systemic action. Plants may also metabolize bialaphos and phosalacine, other naturally occurring herbicides, directly into glufosinate. The compound irreversibly inhibits glutamine synthetase, an enzyme necessary for the production of glutamine and for ammonia detoxification, giving it antibacterial, antifungal and herbicidal properties. Application of glufosinate to plants leads to reduced glutamine and elevated ammonia levels in tissues, halting photosynthesis and resulting in plant death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dicamba</span> Chemical compound used as herbicide

Dicamba is a selective systemic herbicide first registered in 1967. Brand names for formulations of this herbicide include Dianat, Banvel, Diablo, Oracle and Vanquish. This chemical compound is a chlorinated derivative of o-anisic acid. It has been described as a "widely used, low-cost, environmentally friendly herbicide that does not persist in soils and shows little or no toxicity to wildlife and humans."

Roundup Ready is the Monsanto trademark for its patented line of genetically modified crop seeds that are resistant to its glyphosate-based herbicide, Roundup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Propanil</span> Chemical compound

Propanil is a widely used contact herbicide. With an estimated use of about 8 million pounds in 2001, it is one of the more widely used herbicides in the United States. Propanil is said to be in use in approximately 400,000 acres of rice production each year.

4-Hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD) inhibitors are a class of herbicides that prevent growth in plants by blocking 4-Hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase, an enzyme in plants that breaks down the amino acid tyrosine into molecules that are then used by plants to create other molecules that plants need. This process of breakdown, or catabolism, and making new molecules from the results, or biosynthesis, is something all living things do. HPPD inhibitors were first brought to market in 1980, although their mechanism of action was not understood until the late 1990s. They were originally used primarily in Japan in rice production, but since the late 1990s have been used in Europe and North America for corn, soybeans, and cereals, and since the 2000s have become more important as weeds have become resistant to glyphosate and other herbicides. Genetically modified crops are under development that include resistance to HPPD inhibitors. There is a pharmaceutical drug on the market, nitisinone, that was originally under development as an herbicide as a member of this class, and is used to treat an orphan disease, type I tyrosinemia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aminomethylphosphonic acid</span> Chemical compound

Aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) is a weak organic acid with a phosphonic acid group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bifenox</span> Chemical compound

Bifenox is the ISO common name for an organic compound used as an herbicide. It acts by inhibiting the enzyme protoporphyrinogen oxidase which is necessary for chlorophyll synthesis.

The Enlist Weed Control System is an agricultural system that includes seeds for genetically modified crops that are resistant to Enlist and the Enlist herbicide; spraying the herbicide will kill weeds but not the resulting crop. The system was developed by Dow AgroSciences, part of Dow Chemical Company. In October 2014 the system was registered for restricted use in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin by the US Environmental Protection Agency. In 2013, the system was approved by Canada for the same uses.

Monsanto was involved in several high-profile lawsuits, as both plaintiff and defendant. It had been defendant in a number of lawsuits over health and environmental issues related to its products. Monsanto also made frequent use of the courts to defend its patents, particularly in the area of agricultural biotechnology. Bayer acquired Monsanto in 2018, and the company has since been involved in litigation related to ex-Monsanto products such as glyphosate, PCBs and dicamba. In 2020 it paid over $10 billion to settle lawsuits involving the glyphosate based herbicide Roundup.

<i>Monsanto Co. v. Rohm and Haas Co.</i>

Monsanto Co. v. Rohm and Haas Co., 456 F.2d 592, is a 1972 decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit interpreting what conduct amounts to fraudulent procurement of a patent.

Glyphosate-based herbicides are usually made of a glyphosate salt that is combined with other ingredients that are needed to stabilize the herbicide formula and allow penetration into plants. The glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup was first developed by Monsanto in the 1970s. It is used most heavily on corn, soy, and cotton crops that have been genetically modified to be resistant to the herbicide. Some products include two active ingredients, such as Enlist Duo which includes 2,4-D as well as glyphosate. As of 2010, more than 750 glyphosate products were on the market. The names of inert ingredients used in glyphosate formulations are usually not listed on the product labels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fluazifop</span> ACCase herbicide, fop, anti-grass

Fluazifop is the common name used by the ISO for an organic compound that is used as a selective herbicide. The active ingredient is the 2R enantiomer at its chiral centre and this material is known as fluazifop-P when used in that form. More commonly, it is sold as its butyl ester, fluazifop-P butyl with the brand name Fusilade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indaziflam</span> Preemergent herbicide discovered in 2009

Indaziflam is a preemergent herbicide especially for grass control in tree and bush crops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Butafenacil</span> Chemical compound

Butafenacil is the ISO common name for an organic compound of the pyrimidinedione chemical class used as an herbicide. It acts by inhibiting the enzyme protoporphyrinogen oxidase to control broadleaf and some grass weeds in crops including cereals and canola.

Johnson v. Monsanto Co. was the first lawsuit to proceed to trial over Monsanto's Roundup herbicide product causing cancer. The lawsuit alleged that the exposure of glyphosate, an active ingredient in the Roundup product, caused Dewayne "Lee" Johnson's non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In a landmark verdict, Monsanto's purchaser Bayer Corporation was ordered by a San Francisco jury to pay $289m in punitive damages and compensatory damages. Monsanto, and after June 2018 Bayer, appealed the verdict several times. The award was cut to $78 million, then reduced to $21 million after appeal.

References

  1. 1 2 US Patent 3,799,758
  2. 1 2 3 4 Lemelson-MIT Program. Inventor of the Week: John Franz
  3. 1 2 Strong, Colby. People: Monsanto Scientist John E. Franz Wins 1990 Perkins Medal for Applied Chemistry The Scientist 10 (1990): 28
  4. 1 2 Monsanto Biography of Dr. John Franz
  5. ↑ "John E. Franz & the Glyphosate Discovery". www.no-tillfarmer.com. Retrieved 2023-12-04.
  6. ↑ Monsanto Press Release February 9, 2007 Inventor of Roundup To Be Inducted Into National Inventors Hall of Fame
  7. 1 2 Monsanto's John E. Franz Wins 1990 Perkin Medal Chem. Eng. News, 1990, 68 (11), pp 29–30 DOI: 10.1021/cen-v068n011.p029
  8. ↑ Stephen O Duke and Stephen B. Powles (2008) Glyphosate: a once-in-a-century herbicide: Mini-review. Pest Management Science Pest Manag Sci 64:319–325
  9. ↑ Pesticide Action Network UK.Glyphosate fact sheet Archived 2016-08-23 at the Wayback Machine Pesticides News No.33, September 1996, p28-29 PAN-UK says it is "a welcome move away from chemicals which are highly toxic to humans and other non target organisms, and from chemicals which cause direct and lasting damage to the environment" and of course cautions against overuse.
  10. ↑ Bender, Ruth (2 July 2019). "Austrian Herbicide Ban Adds to Problems for Roundup Owner Bayer". Wall Street Journal.
  11. ↑ "Roundup Lawsuit Update December 2023 – Forbes Advisor". www.forbes.com. Retrieved 2023-12-04.
  12. ↑ "Five-Point Plan to Close the Roundup™ Litigation". Bayer.
  13. ↑ Center for Oral History. "John E. Franz". Science History Institute .
  14. ↑ Bohning, James J. (29 November 1994). John E. Franz, Transcript of an Interview Conducted by James J. Bohning at St. Louis, Missouri on 29 November 1994 (PDF). Philadelphia, PA: Chemical Heritage Foundation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 March 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  15. ↑ Monsanto Press Release. December 8, 1995 Monsanto Announces John Franz Sustainability Award
  16. ↑ Monsanto Press Release. October 11, 2007. Monsanto Announces Franz Innovation Award Scholarship Archived 2017-10-07 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ↑ National Inventors Hall of Fame. Inventor Profile: John E. Franz
  18. ↑ Patent Database Search Results: "John E. Franz" in U.S. Patent Collection. U.S. Patent Database
  19. ↑ US3853530
  20. ↑ US3977860
  21. ↑ US3954848
  22. ↑ US4735649
  23. ↑ US4634788
  24. ↑ US4094661
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