ORGANIC CHEMISTS CONTRIBUTING TO FOOD PRODUCTION
The need for crop protection chemicals Increases crop yields Improves crop quality Controls weeds, insects and fungal diseases Allows land to be set aside as wilderness and woodland
What organic chemists did Used the natural product strobiluran A as a starting point to synthesise a new fungicide Azoxystrobin Azoxystrobin is the world’s largest selling agricultural fungicide It had sales worth more than £800 million in 2011
The chemistry they used Retained the 3-methoxypropenoate group found in strobilurin Added different groups Replaced the (Z) alkene bond by a disubstituted benzene ring
disubstituted benzene ring (Z) - alkene bond 3-methoxypropenoate group