The Role of Phosphorus in Crop Protection: Commercial and Experimental Weed Control Agents

Abstract

During the last ten years there have been significant changes in the role that Phosphorus has played in Crop Protection. In commercial terms, sales of organophosphate insecticides have steadily declined; this has been due to the withdrawal of a number of products due to regulatory and industry pressure, along with the introduction of safer, lower-use rate insecticides. With herbicides, the story is different; due to the introduction of genetically modified crops, sales of products such as Glyphosate and Glufosinate have increased. In the area of fungicides, Phosphorus has so far had little impact. Despite these successes, new crop protection agents containing Phosphorus that have reached the market place remain elusive. In this article, I discuss some recent market trends and summarize some approaches toward identifying new herbicides containing Phosphorus.

Keywords:

• Bio-isosteres
• herbicidal activity
• phosphonic acids
• transition State Analogs

Acknowledgments

The author would like to acknowledge Keith Baylis, JohnWeetman, Ichiro Mori, Fred Cederbaum, Hans-Peter Buser, and John Dingwall (deceased).