MCPA

MCPA (2-methyl-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid) is a widely used phenoxy herbicide introduced in 1945. It selectively controls broad-leaf weeds in pasture and cereal crops. The mode of action of MCPA is as an auxin, which are growth hormones that naturally exist in plants.

== History == In 1936 investigations began at ICIs Jealott's Hill research center into the effects of auxins on plant growth looking specifically for a way to kill weeds without harming crops such as wheat and oats. William Templeman found that when indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), the naturally occurring auxin, was used at high concentrations, it could stop plant growth. In 1940, he published his finding that IAA killed broadleaf plants within a cereal field. Templeman and the ICI group were searching for compounds with similar or greater selective activity than IAA or 1-naphthaleneacetic acid in inhibiting the growth of weeds while not adversely affecting the growth of cereal crops. They synthesized MCPA from the corresponding phenol by exposing it to chloroacetic acid and dilute base in a straightforward substitution reaction: 2-methyl-4-chlorophenol + ClCH2CO2H + base → MCPA + base·HCl (hydrochloric acid) By the end of 1941 it was clear to the Templeman group that MCPA was one of the most active compounds tested but other auxin herbicides including 2,4-D were also effective. This work took place during World War II and was a case of multiple discovery. Four groups worked independently in the United Kingdom and the United States: the ICI team; Philip S. Nutman and associates at Rothamsted Research in the UK; Franklin D. Jones and associates at the American Chemical Paint Company; and Ezra Kraus, John W. Mitchell, and associates at the University of Chicago and the United States Department of Agriculture. All four groups were subject to wartime secrecy laws and did not follow the usual procedures of publication and patent disclosure, although ICI did file an application relating to both MCPA and 2,4-D on 7 April 1941 in the UK. In December 1942, following a meeting at the Ministry of Agriculture the Rothamsted and ICI workers pooled resources and Nutman moved to Jealott's Hill to join the ICI effort. The first publications about this group of herbicides were by other workers who were not the original inventors: the precise sequence of discovery events has been discussed. MCPA was first reported in the open scientific literature by Slade, Templeman and Sexton in 1945. ICI's decision to commercialize MCPA (rather than 2,4-D, for example) was influenced by the fact that ICI had access to 2-methyl-4-chlorophenol and following extensive field trials the material was first made available to UK farmers in 1946, as a 1% dust.