Synthesis and herbicidal activity of novel pyrazole aromatic ketone analogs as HPPD inhibitor

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

BACKGROUND 4‐Hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD, EC 1.13.11.27) has been a good target for herbicide discovery. In order to discover novel HPPD herbicides, a series of pyrazole aromatic ketone analogs were designed and synthesized. RESULTS The 25 pyrazole aromatic ketone analogs synthesized were tested for herbicidal activity and compounds A1, A3, A4, A17, A20 and A25 displayed excellent herbicidal activity against Chenopodium serotinum , Stellaria media and Brassica juncea at 37.5 g ha −1 . In addition, compounds A1, A5, A9, A10, A16, A17, A20 and A25 exhibited good crop selectivity for wheat, maize and rice at 150 g ha −1 . Inhibition activities against At HPPD proved the compounds were HPPD inhibitors. The structure–activity relationship of these pyrazole aromatic ketone analogs was studied using molecular docking. CONCLUSION These pyrazole aromatic ketone derivatives could be used as lead structures for development of HPPD herbicides against dicotyledonous weeds with further structure modification.