Protonation−Dissociation Reactions of Imazamethabenz-Methyl and Imazamethabenz-Acid in Relation to Their Soil Sorption and Abiotic Degradation

This paper present ultraviolet-visible absorption spectra of imazamethabenz-methyl (IMBM) (mixture of the isomers methyl 6-[(RS)-4-isopropyl-4-methyl-5-oxo-2-imidazolin-2-yl]-m-toluate, m-imazamethabenz, and methyl 2-[(RS)-4-isopropyl-4-methyl-5-oxo-2-imidazolin-2-yl]-p-toluate, p-imazamethabenz) and the corresponding carboxylic acid, imazamethabenz-acid (IMBA). The spectral characteristics are determined as functions of the pH. The appreciable absorbance in the visible (or near-ultraviolet) region of the spectra indicates that the natural photolytic degradation is possible. From variations of the maximum absorbances of the bands, the pK values of 3.4 +/- 0.2 and 9.4 +/- 0.2 were obtained for protonation of the imidazol (=N-) nitrogen and dissociation of the NH imidazol nitrogen of IMBM, respectively. For IMBA, the dissociation pK of the carboxylic group is very close to that of the imidazol (=N-) nitrogen, both being close to 3.3. The dissociation pK of the NH imidazol nitrogen for IMBA is 9.6 +/- 0.2. The role of the acid-base reactions on the sorption on soils of these herbicides is discussed.