Herbicidal activity of beflubutamid analogues as PDS inhibitors and SAR analysis and degradation dynamics in wheat

• Main Authors: Zhang, Meng, Cai, Hui, Ling, Dan, Pang, Chen, Chang, Jinming, Jin, Zhichao, Chi, Yonggui Robin
• Other Authors: School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2024
• Subjects: Agricultural Sciences; Herbicidal activity; Phytoene desaturase
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/174247
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

In this work, a series of beflubutamid (BF) analogues' postemergent herbicidal activity was evaluated, and the structure-activity relationship (SAR) was discussed. At a dosage of 300 g ai/ha, compounds (Rac)-6h and (Rac)-6q showed excellent herbicidal activity against Amaranthus retroflexus, Abutilon theophrasti, and Medicago sativa, with inhibition rates of 90, 100, and 80% and 100, 100, and 100%, respectively, comparable to that of commercial herbicide BF, which showed inhibition rates of 90, 100, and 100%, respectively. Notably, at dosages of 150 and 300 g ai/ha, the chiral compounds (S)-6h and (S)-6q exhibited higher herbicidal activities than their racemates. Molecular docking results indicated that compounds (S)-BF and (S)-6h have stronger binding affinities with Oryza sativa phytoene desaturase (OsPDS), resulting in a higher herbicidal activity. Additionally, the degradation dynamics half-life of (S)-BF in wheat was determined to be 77.02 h. Consequently, compounds (S)-6h and (S)-6q are promising lead candidates for the development of highly effective herbicides.