Enantioselective Degradation of Rac-Metolachlor and S-Metolachlor in Soil

Separation of chiral enantiomers and the dissipation of rac-metolachlor and S-metolachlor in soil were evaluated using achiral high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and chiral gas chromatography (GC) methods. Under the experimental conditions the possible metabolite was considered to be N-(2-ethyl-6-methyl-phenyl)-2-hydroxy-acetamide. Because of the presence of two chiral elements (asymmetrically substituted carbon and chiral axis), the baseline separation of metolachlor enantiomers was not achieved. S-metolachlor degraded faster in soil than rac-metolachlor. After a 42-day incubation, 73.4% of rac-metolachlor and 90.0% of S-metolachlor were degraded. However, due to the absence of biological processes the degradation process in sterilized soil showed no enantioselectivity. The results indicated that enantioselective degradations could greatly affect the environmental fate of metolachlor and should be considered when the environmental behavior of these compounds was assessed.