Tebuthiuron is a nonselective broad spectrum herbicide of the

urea Urea, also known as carbamide, is an organic compound with chemical formula . This amide has two amino groups (–) joined by a carbonyl functional group (–C(=O)–). It is thus the simplest amide of carbamic acid. Urea serves an important ...

class. It is used in a number of herbicides manufactured by

Dow AgroSciences Dow AgroSciences LLC was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dow Chemical Company specializing in not only agricultural chemicals such as pesticides, but also seeds and biotechnology solutions. The company was based in Indianapolis, Indian ...

, and is sold under several trade names, depending on the formulation. It is used to control weeds, woody and herbaceous plants, and sugar cane. It is absorbed by the roots and transported to the leaves, where it inhibits

photosynthesis Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored i ...

. The Environmental Protection Agency considers tebuthiuron to have a great potential for

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated ...

contamination, due to its high water

solubility In chemistry, solubility is the ability of a substance, the solute, to form a solution with another substance, the solvent. Insolubility is the opposite property, the inability of the solute to form such a solution. The extent of the solub ...

, low

adsorption Adsorption is the adhesion of atoms, ions or molecules from a gas, liquid or dissolved solid to a surface. This process creates a film of the ''adsorbate'' on the surface of the ''adsorbent''. This process differs from absorption, in which ...

to soil particles, and high persistence in soil (its soil

half-life Half-life (symbol ) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable at ...

is 360 days). In Europe, tebuthiuron has been banned since November 2002. In 2010, tebuthiuron was deliberately used in an act of vandalism to poison the live oak trees at

Toomer's Corner Toomer's Corner is a street corner located at the intersection of Magnolia Avenue and College Street, and marks the northeastern-most reach of the campus of Auburn University, and the beginning of downtown Auburn, Alabama. Two landmarks are loc ...

on the Auburn University campus following the 2010

Iron Bowl The Alabama–Auburn football rivalry, better known as the Iron Bowl, is an American college football rivalry game between the Auburn University Tigers and University of Alabama Crimson Tide, both charter members of the Southeastern Conferen ...

References

External links

Dow AgroSciences MSDS on Spike 80DF
{{Herbicides Herbicides Thiadiazoles Ureas Tert-butyl compounds