An aqueous saturated solution of butachlor (23.5ppm) was photodecomposed under UV or sunlight and compared with the results obtained from the photodecomposition of this herbicide as thin film on glass under UV irradiation. Photodecomposition of butachlor in aqueous solution was more complicated. Under UV light the half life was found to be about 0.8hr, but under sunlight it was 5.4hr. At least 24 photodecomposed products were obtained from the aqueous solution after photodecomposition by
tlc and
glc analyses. Among them, 4 components, namely 2-chloro-2′, 6′-diethylacetanilide (VII), 2, 6-diethylaniline (XIX),
m-xylene (XXI) and toluene (XXIII), were identified by a comparison with authentic samples. Moreover, 11 components were assigned to be 2-hydroxy-2′, 6′-diethy-
N-(butoxymethyl)acetanilide (II), 2′, 6′-diethyl-
N-(butoxymethyl)acetanilide (III),
N-2′, 6′-diethyl-phenyl-2, 5-dihydrooxazol-4-one (V),
N-phenyl-2, 5-dihydrooxazol-4-one (VI), 2, 2-dichloro-2′, 6′-diethylacetanilide (VIII), 2-hydroxy-2′, 6′-diethylacetanilide (IX),
m-ethyltoluene (XX), ethylbenzene (XXII) and Compds. XI, XII and XIII, respectively, by GC-MS analyses. But the structures of other 9 components with
m/
e 275 (IV), 177 (X), 278 (XIV), 170 (XV), 160 (XVI), 160 (XVII), 146 (XVIII), 156 (XXIV) and Compd. XXV have not yet been determined.
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