Fascinating Ambimobile Aryldiones in Crop Protection: Managing Grass Weeds and Harmful Sucking Insects

Abstract

This review examines the innovation journeys, developments, and properties of two ambimobile crop protection compounds containing a 2-aryl-1,3-dione pharmacophoric motif: pinoxaden for post-emergence broad-spectrum grass weed control in cereals, and spiropidion for protecting multiple crops against damaging and difficult to control piercing and sucking pests. Both active ingredients function as propesticides, hydrolyzing in planta to release their bioactive aryldione forms, which inhibit acetyl-CoA carboxylase and disrupt fatty acid metabolism. As weak acids with specific physicochemical properties, these aryl cyclic diones demonstrate ambimobility in plants, enabling them to access both long-distance translocation pathways in plant vasculature, xylem, and phloem. This systemic translocation is crucial for both herbicidal and insecticidal applications.