Penoxsulam (trade name Granite) is a new acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitor herbicide forpostemergence control of annual grasses,
sedges, and broadleaf weeds in rice culture. This studywas done to understand the equilibrium phase partitioning of penoxsulam to soil and air underconditions simulating California rice field conditions. Partitioning of penoxsulam was determinedbetween soil and water (
Kd) by the batch equilibrium method and between air and water (
KH) by thegas-purge method. In four representative soils from the Sacramento Valley, the
Kd values rangedfrom 0.14 to 5.05 and displayed a modest increase with soil pH. In soil amended with manure compost,soil sorption increased 4-fold with increasing soil organic matter content, but was still low with a
Kdof 0.4 in samples with high organic carbon contents of 15%. Penoxsulam was confirmed to beextremely nonvolatile and did not partition into air at any measurable rate at 20 or 40
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C.
KH (pH 7)was estimated at 4.6 × 10
-15 Pa·L·mol
-1 on the basis of available water solubility and vapor pressuredata. The results imply that soil and air partitioning of penoxsulam do not significantly affect its potentialfor degradation or offsite movement in water.Keywords: Environmental mobility; Granite; penoxsulam; sulfonamide; adsorption; partitioning;sorption value; soil pH