Possible Appearance of Degradation Products of Paraquat in Crops

Chemical analysis has established that residue levels of paraquat in crops harvested after use of the chemical are at such a low level as to constitute no hazard to the consuming public. (Paraquat dichloride is 1,1'-dimethyl-4,4'-bipyridylium dichloride). There remained the possibility that toxic metabolites or other conversion products of paraquat might appear in crops. This paper is concerned with attempts to evaluate this possibility, and demonstrates that no hazard arises from the formation of degradation products. It has been shown, using paraquat labelled with 14C in the methyl groups and in the pyridine nuclei, that the chemical is not metabolically degraded in plants. However, photochemical degradation of paraquat can occur on the surface of leaves in sunlight. In vitro experiments involving ultra-violet irradiation of aqueous solutions of 14C-paraquat have shown that 4-carboxy-1-methylpyridinium chloride and methylamine hydrochloride are the only products formed in significant amount in the photochemical degradation. Paper chromatography and isotope dilution have shown that these products are formed on leaves of plants treated with 14C-paraquat (mostly after the plants are dead). Whole plant radioautography has established that 4-carboxy-1-14C methylpyridinium chloride is not translocated at all from the dead leaves on which it is formed and certainly this compound will not appear in harvested crops. This has been confirmed in an experiment in which 14C-paraquat was used to desiccate the tops of potato plants before harvesting the tubers. All the radioactivity subsequently found in the tubers could be accounted for as paraquat (level 0.08 ppm). There was no evidence for the presence of significant amounts of other radioactive compounds in the tubers, even though chromatography of extracts of the desiccated plants showed that photochemical degradation products were formed on the leaves: these were not translocated into the tubers. (author)