The photochemical behavior of the neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid was studied with regard to different chemical environments. Different model solvents simulated the structure moieties mainly occurring in waxes and cutin of the plant cuticle. Cyclohexane and cyclohexene substituted saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbon chains, whereas ethanol and 2-propanol were models for primary and secondary alcohol groups of cuticular components. After 5 h of irradiation, imidacloprid was completely degraded in all solvents. With 88-96 mol% 1-[(6-chloropyridin-3-yl)methyl]imidazolidin-2-imine was formed as the main product, whereas 1-[(6-chloropyridin-3-yl)methyl]imidazolidin-2-one was identified as minor product in the range 4-6 mol%. By contrast, besides the photoproducts formed in organic solvents, irradiation of the solid imidacloprid on a glass surface delivered a complex variety of unidentified photoproducts. The nucleophilic addition reaction of the main photoproduct, 1-[(6-chloropyridin-3-yl)methyl]imidazolidin-2-imine, with both cyclohexene oxide and methyl 9,10-epoxystearate as model compounds indicates that epoxidized cutin acids are possible reaction partners for the formation of plant cuticle bound residues of imidacloprid, which could explain the reported findings of nonextractable residues of imidacloprid in plants.

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SummaryA five-step synthesis of the neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid (1) pyridine (6) which was coupled with N-nitroimidazolidin-2-imine to yield 1.