Climate warming is seldom considered in the transformation of pesticides
on a plant leaf. This study investigated the effects of photodegradation
temperature and spinach growth temperature from 15 to 21 °C on
the photodegradation of bifenthrin, cypermethrin, fenvalerate, and
deltamethrin on spinach leaves under xenon lamp irradiation in climate
incubators. The photodegradation temperature had minor effects on
pyrethroid photodegradation. Interestingly, the photodegradation rates
decreased with increasing spinach growth temperature. For example,
the photodegradation rate constant of bifenthrin on a spinach cultivated
at 15 °C (3.73 (±0.59, 95% confidence level) × 10–2 h–1) was 1.9 times higher than
that at 21 °C (1.96 (±0.17) × 10–2 h–1). Hydroxyl radicals (·OH) played a dominant
role in the photodegradation. We speculate that ·OH originated
from the degradation of hydroperoxide that was formed by oxidation
of phenolic CHCH, aliphatic CH3 and aromatic C–O–C,
and subsequent hydrogen abstraction. The contents of these functional
groups decreased with increasing growth temperature, which resulted
in lower photodegradation rates at higher growth temperatures. A possible
photodegradation pathway including ester bond cleavage, decyanation,
and phenyl group removal was proposed. This work provides new insight
into the effects of climate warming on the generation of reactive
oxygen species and the transformation of pesticides on a plant leaf.