Anaerobic Aquatic Degradation of Flumetsulam [N-(2,6-Difluorophenyl)-5-methyl[1,2,4]triazolo- [1,5-+ia)pyrimidine-2-sulfonamide]

The potential for anaerobic aquatic degradation of the herbicide flumetsulam was studied in sediment-water systems. The herbicide degraded to a dominant product which preferentially partitioned to the water phase in a strongly anaerobic test system; the half-life was 183 d. Reduced flumetsulam hydrate, the degradation product identified, distributed among several products in an equilibrium mixture and reverted to flumetsulam following aeration. When applied to aerobic soil, the degradation product displayed a half-life of 2 d, as compared with a half-life of 40 d for the parent compound.