THE SYNTHESIS AND BIOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF EUGENOL DERIVATIVES AS POTENTIAL HERBICIDAL AGENTS

摘要

The natural product Eugenol is well known to exhibit certain medicinal properties and agrochemical effects. Because of its functional hydroxyl group, it became an ideal template to construct synthetic derivatives that might be useful as agrochemicals.Subsequently, these were tested for plant growth regulatory activity in the etiolated wheat coleoptile assay, Triticum aestivum cv. Wakeland, and as phytotoxic agents against common ragweed, Ambrosia artemisifolia, and johnsongrass, Sorghum halapense, Of the 15 compounds tested, 6 inhibited coleoptile growth from 100 to 34% at 10~(-3) M, and 1 promoted growth 34% at 10~(-3) M. Two were shown to be active against intact plants and one was as active as the lead compound, Eugenol, in the coleoptile bioassay. Structures and their related activities will be discussed.