Drug – bio-affecting and body treating compositions – Preparations characterized by special physical form – Biocides; animal or insect repellents or attractants
Reissue Patent
1998-11-25
2001-08-07
Lovering, Richard D. (Department: 1712)
Drug, bio-affecting and body treating compositions
Preparations characterized by special physical form
Biocides; animal or insect repellents or attractants
C504S362000, C514S762000, C514S941000, C516S055000, C516S069000, C516S071000, C516S074000, C516S076000, C516S072000, C516S203000, C516S204000, C516S053000
Reissue Patent
active
RE037313
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to the field of agricultural, forestry, turf, ornamental, industrial, aquatic, rights-of-ways and other applications where pesticides are used and, more specifically, to adjuvant compositions which improve the chemical and physical properties of a pesticide such as an herbicide, insecticide or fungicide.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In order to enhance or modify the chemical and/or physical characteristics of certain pesticides, certain materials are added to form a mixture for spraying. Generally referred to as adjuvants, these materials have no pesticidal activity of their own. Since spray application can be critical to the performance of the agricultural chemical, adjuvants are added to reduce application problems such as chemical stability, incompatiblity, solubility, suspension, foaming, drift, evaporation, volatilization, phytotoxicity, surface tension, droplet size and coverage. They can, depending on their type, enhance wetting, spreading, sticking, emulsifying, dispersing and biological activity. Adjuvants include wetting agents, crop oil concentrates, spreaders, stickers, buffering agents, foaming and anti-foaming agents, dispersing agents and drift control agents. Over 200 EPA-registered pesticides have specific recommendations on their labels for adjuvant use. These are recommended for one of two reasons—or both. First, to enhance biological activity of the pesticide and second, to reduce, minimize or eliminate spray application problems as noted previously. There are several different types of adjuvants recommended. To achieve consistent, effective results from them, the user must first select the desired type of adjuvant and then the appropriate product within that specific type for use with a particular pesticide and then use that product at recommended rates.
It is known that petroleum hydrocarbon spray oils increase the efficacy of herbicides, fungicides and other pesticides by enhancing the deposition characteristics and wetting and spreading of the spray solution resulting in a more even and uniform spray deposit or by increasing the biological effect of certain pesticides. Other oils such as esterified vegetable oils and once—refined vegetable oils are known to exhibit similar properties. Such spray oils can increase penetration and slow evaporation. Paraffin based spray oil is a petroleum oil used as dormant spray, summer oil, carrier for pesticides or an adjuvant to increase the efficacy of agricultural chemicals.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,322, an agricultural spray oil composition comprising a major Mount of a petroleum oil and a minor amount of a vegetable oil is disclosed as providing a particularly improved carrier which enhances the effectiveness of selective herbicides.
A synergistic herbicidal composition is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,755,207 and comprises a non-phytotoxic crop oil, a surfactant, and hydrophobic mycoherbicide spore. The oils are once refined vegetable oils or highly refined paraffinic material. The surfactant can be anionic, cationic or nonionic.
A surfactant composition is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,317,847 issued to Chasin. Chasin discloses a solvent having a high aromatic content above 95% which corresponds to a very low UR value.
Some applications require the separate addition of buffering agents to adjust the pH of alkaline waters used to make up the spray solutions. The buffering agents regulate solution pH to avoid hydrolysis of pesticides that tend to decompose in alkaline spray solutions. Generally, the spray's pH should be adjusted to a range of 4 to 6 or slightly acidic. Known buffering agents include alkyl aryl polyethoxy ethanol phosphates and organic phosphatic acids as the principal functioning agents. Typically, such a buffering agent is added to the water which is then combined with the pesticide and any other adjuvants required.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,244,049 relates to aqueous-lower alkanol solutions containing alkylaryl polyoxyethylene glycol phosphate esters which act as compatibility agents for mixtures of liquid fertilizer and pesticides. The solution contains about 20% methanol, about 16% water and about 64% of the phosphate ester.
A biocidal fine powder and an agricultural suspension containing the fine powder and an adjuvant are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,851,421. The adjuvant can be a polyoxyalkylene-type nonionic surface active agent or polyoxyalkylene alkyl or alkylaryl ether phosphates or their salts. The composition does not include any oil components.
It is advantageous to reduce the separate addition of each of the adjuvants to the herbicide or pesticide to save time and to reduce possibility of error in the amounts added since mixing is typically done in the field by unskilled workers. However, the components of an adjuvant composition must form a homogeneous liquid mixture, not a slurry or suspension. Otherwise, the amount of oil and surfactant in the spray will vary form use to use and these variations would adversely affect the physical properties of the spray. In the prior compositions, adjuvants such as buffering agents have been added to the water, then combined with the other adjuvants and the active ingredient because the phosphate compounds used as buffering agents are hydrophilic polar compounds. It is difficult to combine such compounds with oil and obtain a homogeneous composition having the desired spray uniformity and coverage.
It is the object of this invention to provide an essentially non-aqueous, single-phase adjuvant composition containing oil plus surfactant blend and which provides buffering capability. Even after the addition of alkaline water and pesticides, use of this composition reduces and/or maintains the pH of the spray mixture within a desired range to prevent hydrolysis of the pesticide.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a homogeneous, essentially nonaqueous adjuvant composition comprising a spray oil, a surfactant and a buffering agent in an amount to reduce the pH to below about 7. When mixed with a pesticide, the composition provides one-step addition of the adjuvants to obtain a more uniform spread of the spray solution of the herbicide or pesticide, improved penetration and slower evaporation. The adjuvant can also be used as a pesticide or herbicide without the addition of any additional pesticide to the adjuvant. The presence of the buffering agent maintains the pH of the mixture within a desired range pH below about 7 in the presence of alkaline waters typically used in spray solutions.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
This invention is a homogeneous, essentially nonaqueous adjuvant composition having buffering capability. According to the process of this invention, the adjuvant composition comprises a spray oil and a blend of surfactants and buffering agent. The preferred homogeneous, essentially nonaqueous adjuvant composition comprises:
(1) at least one spray oil selected from the group consisting of:
(a) vegetable oils;
(b) fatty acids and blends thereof;
(c) esterified fatty acids or blends thereof;
(d) saponified fatty acids or blends thereof;
(e) N,N-dimethylamide of the formula
R
CON(CH
3
)
2
wherein R is an alkyl chain derived from fatty acids having about 6 to about 18 carbon atoms;
(f) polybutenes of the following formula
where n is a number from about 1 to about 50%
(2) a surfactant in an effective amount to provide emulsification of said composition and
(3) a buffering agent in an amount sufficient to reduce the pH to below about 7.
The spray oils utilized in this composition do not have an unsulfonated residence (UR) value and include at least one of the following:
1. Vegetable oils:
the vegetable oils can be, but are not limited to vegetable seed oil or a mixture of vegetable seed oils, as they are known in the agricultural industry, crop seed oils which are produced from the particular crop from which their name is derived. Included in the vegetable oils suitable for the compositions of the present invention are cotton seed oil, canola, rapeseed, peanut oil, sunflower oil, linseed
Connolly Bove & Lodge & Hutz LLP
Helena Chemical Company
Lovering Richard D.
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