Herbicides

Details Herbicides Herbicides

2001-01-08

2004-07-06

Clardy, S. Mark (Department: 1616)

Plant protecting and regulating compositions

Plant growth regulating compositions

Plural active ingredients

C514S558000, C514S729000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06759370

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention is directed to compositions exhibiting herbicidal activity. Many compositions also exhibit insecticidal and/or fungicidal activity and thus this is also a consideration of the present invention. Preferred embodiments of the present invention combine monoterpene alcohols with fatty acid soaps.
BACKGROUND ART
Farming is one manifestation of civilisation and thus for some time man has attempted to clear areas of land for horticulture and agriculture as well as control what type of plants establish themselves there. In earlier times the methods used focused on physical effort or fire to remove and control weeds or unwanted growth. As time progressed it was recognised that various types of chemicals had an adverse effect on many plants and were an efficient alterative to labour intensive methods of control. With the rapid advance of the chemical and petro-chemical industries in the 19
th
and 20
th
centuries, chemical sprays for the control of not only plants but also fungus and insects etc. proliferated. Currently there is a wide range of insecticides and herbicides available which are based solely or predominantly on synthetic chemicals.
However, of more recent times there has been increased consumer backlash against the use of synthetic products, or products which are perceived not to be of natural origin. This consumer resistance is at least partially based on problems and difficulties associated with the use of chemicals in agriculture. The use of insecticides is one graphic example where for some time the problems of residue run-off entering the eco-system has caused problems down the food chain. As a consequence, much research has gone into the development of new synthetic insecticides which address this problem—typically by the use of products which bio-degrade quickly in the environment and/or are less likely to interfere or harm animals further up the food chain. Another solution has been to place more dependence upon the use of naturally occurring insecticides, many of which have been found to occur naturally in plants.
Herbicides represent a different area and have different problems. Here there are still problems with run-off and residues. Toxicity to animals and humans is also a major problem. For instance, the use of herbicides of the paraquat family have been tightly controlled or banned in many countries.
Residues represent a problem insofar as it is often desirable to sow over cleared ground as soon as possible after defoliation. Many herbicides have a residual period before re-sowing or over-sowing can occur. A further problem relates to residual compounds in the dead foliage. These may remain in the foliage until bio-degraded or otherwise eliminated into the environment. Having to physically remove dead foliage to allow immediate resowing is not a viable option in most instances.
The art has sought to address many of these problems. The glyphosate family of herbicide are very important commercially and are widely used where compounds of low toxicity and short residual life time in the soil are required. However, these compounds still represent synthetic products which are still resisted by the public's swing to naturally based products and organic farming.
While many insecticidal compounds occur naturally and have been identified (e.g. the pyrethrins) there is no such plant based herbicidal compounds in the art. This perhaps appears not to be surprising, for while many plants have evolved to produce compounds which repel or kill insects which may affect them, it is relatively uncommon, if at all observed, for plants to have to control other plants in a herbicidal manner. Accordingly, one cannot merely look directly to nature to provide an immediate solution to the aforementioned herbicidal problems.
The present invention seeks to address at least some of the problems associated with such prior art. In particular it seeks to provide compositions (and their use) for horticulture and agriculture which are based primarily on naturally occurring or derived substances and which are active in their preferred area of application without the need of compounds and substances which are generally regarded as being synthetic or non-organic. However, this is not to say that synthetically produced analogues of naturally occurring substances are not within the scope of the present invention, or that simple synthetic derivatives of the naturally occurring compounds are excluded either. It is also envisaged that chemical and industrial techniques may be used to extract or render the natural materials into a usable form.
It is recognised that a distinction in agriculture between organic and no-organic compounds is, in many instances, purely semantic. In many instances there is no chemical or biological difference between a naturally sourced or naturally occurring substance, and that substance when produced synthetically. In some instances the synthetic analogue may be cleaner, purer, and more cost effective. So, for the purposes of this specification, naturally occurring shall mean substances which occur naturally in nature, rather than the manner by which they were obtained or prepared.
Further, when reference is made to derivatives of these compounds, this shall generally mean derivatives which do not substantially differ in chemical structure or properties from the naturally occurring compound. By way of example this would generally mean one or two relatively simple substituted groups on the original compound, or compounds which have added on to or reacted with functional groups on the original compound. These substituted or added groups could also be of a relatively small size (e.g. up to C
5
or a simple functional group) rather than being of a size or character so as to dwarf or obscure the original naturally occurring compound. Some examples, which are meant to be illustrative only rather than limiting, include soluble salts of original compounds, and the substitution or addition of simple alkyl groups etc. The main exception to this description would be esters, in which case it is desirable that the added ester group is relatively small, or comprises another naturally occurring product.
Some of the problems outlined above have been recognised in the prior art and at least the specification of WO 97/16975 considers the use of certain plant derived products. In particular, pine oils, pine alcohols, pinene, dipentene and d-limonene are advocated. Their combination with tea tree and/or eucalyptus oils, is claimed to exhibit synergy. However, preferred embodiments of this specification require distillation of natural oils and extracts to leave substantially pure terpenes of interest. This can add substantially to the expense of the composition, which is a significant factor in agriculture.
For use, the active terpenes specified in WO 97/16975 may be diluted with a suitable carrier, and a number of plant oils are listed. However, many of these oils are relatively expensive, and the application of non-volatile oils may in some circumstances be undesirable, depending upon the quantities distributed. However, in preferred embodiments of WO 97/16975 the substantially pure, distilled, compounds are applied undiluted to foliage.
The present applicant has found that direct application of the terpenes in the manner specified within WO 97/16975 may suffer from some disadvantage. For instance, the volatility of many of the components may cause them to flash-off from foliage before they are able to exhibit a herbicidal effect. This is particularly true in hot weather, and when foliage is exposed to direct sunlight. Accordingly the present invention also seeks to address this problem other than by merely increasing the quantity of active compound applied. By way of example the present invention also considers enhancing the effectiveness of active components.
The present invention also seeks to address the necessity for using highly purified, or distilled components such as advocated in WO 97/16975, or seeks at least to suggest alternatives theret

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Herbicides does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Herbicides, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Herbicides will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3211103