Volatile analogues of penconazole and their activity against the take-all fungus, Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici

Eight new sterol biosynthesis-inhibiting fungicides, structurally related to penconazole and having vapour pressures up to 118 mPa, were synthesised. Their toxicities to the cereal take-all fungus, Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici, on agar were measured; intrinsic activities were measured after incorporating the compounds into the agar and vapour activities were measured after their evaporation from glass and from moist soil. Vapour activity following evaporation from soil was shown to be a function of both the intrinsic activity of the compound and its partition coefficient between the air and moist soil (K(as)). The latter is itself a function of vapour pressure, 1-octanol/water partition coefficient (K(ow)) and the soil type. The compound most active as vapour from soil in the in-vitro test, 1-(pyridin-3-yl)-2-(4-flurorophenyl)pentane, was ineffective against take-all in wheat in a pot test in which the inoculated soil was treated unevenly, providing further evidence that the redistribution of fungicides in moist soil occurs predominantly via the water phase rather than the vapour phase.