Ismail, I., Seloma, A. (2025). Thermal Stability and Photolytic Degradation of Imazapic Herbicide in Technical and Soluble Concentrate Formulations. Journal of Plant Protection and Pathology, 16(7), 349-355. doi: 10.21608/jppp.2025.388630.1345
I. I. Ismail; A. S. O. Seloma. "Thermal Stability and Photolytic Degradation of Imazapic Herbicide in Technical and Soluble Concentrate Formulations". Journal of Plant Protection and Pathology, 16, 7, 2025, 349-355. doi: 10.21608/jppp.2025.388630.1345
Ismail, I., Seloma, A. (2025). 'Thermal Stability and Photolytic Degradation of Imazapic Herbicide in Technical and Soluble Concentrate Formulations', Journal of Plant Protection and Pathology, 16(7), pp. 349-355. doi: 10.21608/jppp.2025.388630.1345
Ismail, I., Seloma, A. Thermal Stability and Photolytic Degradation of Imazapic Herbicide in Technical and Soluble Concentrate Formulations. Journal of Plant Protection and Pathology, 2025; 16(7): 349-355. doi: 10.21608/jppp.2025.388630.1345
Thermal Stability and Photolytic Degradation of Imazapic Herbicide in Technical and Soluble Concentrate Formulations
Pesticides Analysis Researches Dept, Central Agricultural Pesticides Laboratory, Agricultural Research Center (ARC), Dokki, Giza, Egypt.
Abstract
This research analyzed the temperature and sunlight's impact on the stability and degradation kinetics of imazapic herbicide in its technical (TC) and soluble concentrate (SL) formulations, including identifying photodegradation intermediate products in the TC formulation. Samples were placed at 30, 45, and 54 °C for up to 336 hours and were directly exposed to sunlight for up to 144 hours. Degradation followed first-order kinetics; however, the SL formulation was more thermally stable than TC at all tested temperatures. The half-lives at 30°C were 577.5 hours for TC and 693 hours for SL, while at 54°C these values dropped to 65.38 hours for TC and 119.48 hours for SL. Photodegradation was much more pronounced, with half-lives of 15 hours for TC and 24.57 hours for SL. From imidazole ring breakup, GC-MS detected several photodegradation products that were formed mainly through decarbonylation and decarboxylation, for example: 4-tert-butyl-2-(3-hydroxy-5-methylpyridin-2-yl)-4-methyl-1H-imidazol-5(4H)-one, (E)-5-methyl-2-((3-methylbut-2-en-2-ylimino)methyl) nicotinic acid, and (E)-N-(1,2-dimethylprop-1-enyl)-1-(5-methyl-2-pyridyl)methanimine. These results promote the need for proper storage for imazapic formulations and suggest that specific components in the SL formulation counteracting thermal and photolytic degradation significantly improve stability.