
Benfluralin (or Benefin) is a herbicide of the dinitroaniline class. The mechanism of action of benfluralin involves pre-emergent inhibition of mitosis, root and shoot development, same as trifluralin, from which benfluralin was developed in 1963. thumb|Shows states where benefin (as Balan DF) is registered (Green) or not (Red). Not shown: Hawaii, where it is registered.
Benfluralin (or Benefin) is a herbicide of the dinitroaniline class. The mechanism of action of benfluralin involves pre-emergent inhibition of mitosis, root and shoot development, same as trifluralin, from which benfluralin was developed in 1963. thumb|Shows states where benefin (as Balan DF) is registered (Green) or not (Red). Not shown: Hawaii, where it is registered.
It is used to control grasses and other weeds. Annual use in the United States was approximately in 2004, down from in 1974, when it was used more than paraquat. The USGS estimates used in the US in 2018. Non-agricultural use includes domestic use, turf, golf courses, ornamentals, tree plantations, roads and paths. It is used on lettuce, alfalfa, clover, fruit, nuts, berries, and vineyards. Benfluralin's EU approval expired in 2023, leaving pendimethalin as the only EU-approved dinitroaniline.
Discovered by embedding cosine similarity (sentence-transformers MiniLM, 384-dim).