PHENYL-SUBSTITUTED 5-MEMBERED-RING HETEROCYCLES AS BLEACHING HERBICIDES

Since its discovery in 1974 (1) the structure of fluorochloridone (1) has been extensively examined in the search for more active and selective bleaching herbicides. This chapter provides an overview of the work which determined the features of 1 critical for activity and structaral modifications that increased its overall activity nearly ten-fold. In addition, modification of the 5-membered ring nucleus to include variously substituted imidazolidones, oxazolidines, thiazolidines, and pyrrolidines which resulted in several new series of very active bleaching herbicides is also presented.