NSF Grant #1213236
This project investigates the environmental fate of imidazolinone herbicides, a widely applied group of pesticides, by exploring the photochemical mechanisms and photoproducts formed when the compounds are adsorbed to plant surfaces. This examination is crucial to understanding the environmental fate of the pesticide and photoproducts. For example, although photolysis of these compounds has been examined in water samples, showing that they are susceptible to photolysis, the mechanism and photoproducts formed when these compounds are sorbed to plant surfaces will likely differ due to matrix effects and/or photosensitization from chemical components of the plants. In addition, photoproducts formed are likely to have different physical properties and toxicologies that must be identified and addressed to fully understand the fate, transport, and environmental health implications of these herbicides. There is currently limited research and understanding of heterogeneous photolysis on the surface of plants – most published work uses a simplified model of the plant surface. Here, we use extracted cuticle wax models as well as intact plant leaves to examine photochemistry of surface bound imidazolinones. This work will be transformative in deepening the knowledge of the environmental fate of imiadazolinones and, more broadly, in providing new methods and/or applications of current methods to an understudied class of reactions – the photolysis of chemicals sorbed to surfaces. In addition, the use of both wax models and intact plant leaves will allow an examination of the validity of the plant models currently used in the literature.

After our work under NSF grant #1213236 is published, we will post data, protocols, presentations, and publications here. If you have any questions, contact the PI.




This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Grant Number #1213236. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.