Ethephon

Ethephon
Skeletal formula
Ball-and-stick model of the ethephon
Names
Preferred IUPAC name
(2-Chloroethyl)phosphonic acid
Other names
Bromeflor
Arvest
Ethrel
Identifiers
CAS Number
  • 16672-87-0 checkY
3D model (JSmol)
  • Interactive image
ChEBI
  • CHEBI:52741 checkY
ChemSpider
  • 26031 checkY
ECHA InfoCard 100.037.002 Edit this at Wikidata
KEGG
  • C18399 checkY
PubChem CID
  • 27982
UNII
  • XU5R5VQ87S checkY
CompTox Dashboard (EPA)
  • DTXSID7024085 Edit this at Wikidata
InChI
  • InChI=1S/C2H6ClO3P/c3-1-2-7(4,5)6/h1-2H2,(H2,4,5,6) checkY
    Key: UDPGUMQDCGORJQ-UHFFFAOYSA-N checkY
  • InChI=1/C2H6ClO3P/c3-1-2-7(4,5)6/h1-2H2,(H2,4,5,6)
    Key: UDPGUMQDCGORJQ-UHFFFAOYAQ
  • ClCCP(=O)(O)O
Properties
Chemical formula
 C2H6ClO3P
Molar mass 144.49 g·mol−1
Density 1.409 g/cm3
Melting point 74 °C (165 °F; 347 K)
Solubility in water
 123.9 g/100 mL (23 °C)
Hazards
Occupational safety and health (OHS/OSH):
Main hazards
 Corrosive
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa).
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Infobox references
Chemical compound

Ethephon is a plant growth regulator.[1]

Mechanism of action

Upon metabolism by the plant, it is converted into ethylene, a potent regulator of plant growth and ripeness. When applied in a plant which is in a vegetative stage, ethylene usually acts by hindering vegetative growth and inducing the start of the flowering stage. If applied in a later stage, it can make the ripening of some fruits quicker. It is also a butyrylcholinesterase inhibitor.[2]

Uses in various crops

Ethephon use in the US in 2011; it is almost solely used on cotton crops.

Ethephon often used on wheat, coffee, tobacco, cotton, and rice in order to help the plant's fruit reach ripeness more quickly.

Cotton is the most important single crop use for ethephon. It initiates fruiting over a period of several weeks, promotes early concentrated boll opening, and enhances defoliation to facilitate and improve efficiency of scheduled harvesting. Harvested cotton quality is improved.[3][4]

Ethephon also is widely used by pineapple growers to initiate reproductive development of (forcing). Ethephon is also sprayed on mature-green pineapple fruits to degreen them to meet produce marketing requirements. There can be some detrimental effect on fruit quality.[citation needed]

It is sometimes used by cannabis growers to induce flowering, abort seed formation, increase the quality of the resins, induce the appearance of female flowers in male plants, and to suppress the development of male flowers in hermaphrodite plants.[5]

The toxicity of ethephon is very low,[6] and any ethephon used on the plant is converted very quickly to ethylene.[7]

The use of this chemical is allowed in the European Union.

References

  1. ^ "R.E.D. Facts Ethephon" (PDF). Environmental Protection Agency.
  2. ^ Zhang, Nanjing; Casida, John E (2002). "Novel Irreversible Butyrylcholinesterase Inhibitors: 2-Chloro-1-(substituted-phenyl)ethylphosphonic Acids". Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry. 10 (5): 1281–1290. doi:10.1016/s0968-0896(01)00391-1. PMID 11886791.
  3. ^ Christopher L. Main and Robert M. Hayes. "Cotton Harvest Aids" (PDF). University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture.
  4. ^ Bill L. Weir and J. M. Gaggero (1982). "Ethephon may hasten cotton boll opening, increase yield". California Agriculture.
  5. ^ Mansouri, Hakimeh; Salari, Fatemeh; Asrar, Zahra (2013-04-01). "Ethephon application stimulats cannabinoids and plastidic terpenoids production in Cannabis sativa at flowering stage". Industrial Crops and Products. 46: 269–273. doi:10.1016/j.indcrop.2013.01.025. ISSN 0926-6690.
  6. ^ Pesticide Information Profiles: Ethephon, Extension Toxicology Net. Sept 1995.
  7. ^ "1994 Joint meeting of the FAO panel of experts on pesticide residues in food and the environment." UN Food and Agriculture Organization. 1994.