Trinitrotoluene, more commonly known as TNT (and more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene), and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagent in chemical synthesis, but it is best known as an explosive material with convenient handling properties. The explosive yield of TNT is considered to be the standard comparative convention of bombs and asteroid impacts. In chemistry, TNT is used to generate charge transfer salts.
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.
Plant hormones are signal molecules, produced within plants, that occur in extremely low concentrations. Plant hormones control all aspects of plant growth and development, including embryogenesis, the regulation of organ size, pathogen defense, stress tolerance and reproductive development. Unlike in animals each plant cell is capable of producing hormones. Went and Thimann coined the term "phytohormone" and used it in the title of their 1937 book.
Carotenoids are yellow, orange, and red organic pigments that are produced by plants and algae, as well as several bacteria, archaea, and fungi. Carotenoids give the characteristic color to pumpkins, carrots, parsnips, corn, tomatoes, canaries, flamingos, salmon, lobster, shrimp, and daffodils. Over 1,100 identified carotenoids can be further categorized into two classes – xanthophylls and carotenes.
Abscisic acid is a plant hormone. ABA functions in many plant developmental processes, including seed and bud dormancy, the control of organ size and stomatal closure. It is especially important for plants in the response to environmental stresses, including drought, soil salinity, cold tolerance, freezing tolerance, heat stress and heavy metal ion tolerance.
Elodea is a genus of 6 species of aquatic plants often called the waterweeds described as a genus in 1803. Classified in the frog's-bit family (Hydrocharitaceae), Elodea is native to the Americas and is also widely used as aquarium vegetation and laboratory demonstrations of cellular activities. It lives in fresh water. An older name for this genus is Anacharis, which serves as a common name in North America.
MCPA is a widely used phenoxy herbicide introduced in 1945. It selectively controls broad-leaf weeds in pasture and cereal crops. The mode of action of MCPA is as an auxin, which are growth hormones that naturally exist in plants.
Iodomethane, also called methyl iodide, and commonly abbreviated "MeI", is the chemical compound with the formula CH3I. It is a dense, colorless, volatile liquid. In terms of chemical structure, it is related to methane by replacement of one hydrogen atom by an atom of iodine. It is naturally emitted by rice plantations in small amounts. It is also produced in vast quantities estimated to be greater than 214,000 tons annually by algae and kelp in the world's temperate oceans, and in lesser amounts on land by terrestrial fungi and bacteria. It is used in organic synthesis as a source of methyl groups.
Hexazinone is an organic compound that is used as a broad spectrum herbicide. It is a colorless solid. It exhibits some solubility in water but is highly soluble in most organic solvents except alkanes. A member of the triazine class herbicides, it is manufactured by DuPont and sold under the trade name Velpar.
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.
UV filters are compounds, mixtures, or materials that block or absorb ultraviolet (UV) light. One of the major applications of UV filters is their use as sunscreens to protect skin from sunburn and other sun/UV related damage. After the invention of digital cameras changed the field of photography, UV filters have been used to coat glass discs fitted to camera lenses to protect hardware that is sensitive to UV light.
2-Methylpyridine, or 2-picoline, is the compound described with formula C6H7N. 2-Picoline is a colorless liquid that has an unpleasant odor similar to pyridine. It is mainly used to make vinylpyridine and the agrichemical nitrapyrin.
Organoiodine chemistry is the study of the synthesis and properties of organoiodine compounds, or organoiodides, organic compounds that contain one or more carbon–iodine bonds. They occur widely in organic chemistry, but are relatively rare in nature. The thyroxine hormones are organoiodine compounds that are required for health and the reason for government-mandated iodization of salt.
Leptophos (O-(4-bromo-2,5-dichlorophenyl) O-methyl phenylphosphonothioate) belongs to the organophosphates and at room temperature it is a stable white solid. It is also known as Phosvel, Abar and Vcs 506. Leptophos was primarily used as a pesticide and fungicide. for rice, cotton, fruit and vegetables until its use was discontinued in 1975 in USA, but still sold in South-Eastern Asia in 1981.
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.
Ethiofencarb is a carbamate insecticide which is useful in controlling aphids on hard and soft fruits and some vegetables. It is not as dangerous as organophosphorous pesticides, but is considered highly toxic to humans in the UK, moderately toxic under US EPA classification, and highly toxic to aquatic life.
Imazaquin is an imidazolinone herbicide, so named because it contains an imidazolinone core. This organic compound is used to control a broad spectrum of weed species. It is a colorless or white solid, although commercial samples can appear brown or tan.
15-cis-phytoene desaturases, are enzymes involved in the carotenoid biosynthesis in plants and cyanobacteria. Phytoene desaturases are membrane-bound enzymes localized in plastids and introduce two double bonds into their colorless substrate phytoene by dehydrogenation and isomerize two additional double bonds. This reaction starts a biochemical pathway involving three further enzymes called the poly-cis pathway and leads to the red colored lycopene. The homologous phytoene desaturase found in bacteria and fungi (CrtI) converts phytoene directly to lycopene by an all-trans pathway.
Pesticide degradation is the process by which a pesticide is transformed into a benign substance that is environmentally compatible with the site to which it was applied. Globally, an estimated 1 to 2.5 million tons of active pesticide ingredients are used each year, mainly in agriculture. Forty percent are herbicides, followed by insecticides and fungicides. Since their initial development in the 1940s, multiple chemical pesticides with different uses and modes of action have been employed. Pesticides are applied over large areas in agriculture and urban settings. Pesticide use, therefore, represents an important source of diffuse chemical environmental inputs.
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.
