Compendium of Pesticide Common Names

Names for simple esters and salts of pesticides

One of the principles set out in ISO 257 Pesticides and other agrochemicals – Principles for the selection of common names is that common names for simple esters and salts should be assigned to the parent acid, alcohol, or base when the biological activity derives from the parent.

The name of the simple anion, cation, or radical is indicated by a modifier. For esters and salts of acids, and for salts of alcohols, the modifier is a hyphenated suffix. For esters of alcohols, and for salts of bases, the modifier is a separate word. For example:

simple esters of acids

chlorthal-dimethyl, chlorthal-monomethyl, cyhalofop-butyl, fenchlorazole-ethyl, flamprop-isopropyl, mefenpyr-diethyl, sulfometuron-methyl, 2,4,5-T-pentyl

simple salts of acids

dalapon-magnesium, fosetyl-aluminium, fosamine-ammonium, endothal-diammonium, mecoprop-P-potassium, metam-sodium, thiosultap-disodium, thiosultap-monosodium

simple salts of alcohols

bromoxynil-potassium, dinoseb-ammonium, DNOC-sodium

simple esters of alcohols

dinoterb acetate, bromoxynil butyrate, quinacetol sulfate

simple salts of bases

dodemorph acetate, iminoctadine triacetate, diquat dibromide, formetanate hydrochloride, imazalil sulfate, oxpoconazole fumarate, streptomycin sesquisulfate

Multiplicative affixes are used when they are necessary to avoid ambiguity.

Traditional names are used for simple anions, cations and radicals. They are also used for some less simple substances, when more systematic names would include locants and the traditional names are unambiguous. For example:

The chemical names of some relatively simple substances can be more complicated than is desirable in a common name, and so recommended names have been developed or adopted for some of the more commonly occurring ions and radicals. These are listed in the following table and should be used in place of the chemical names.

There is a separate index of simple salts and esters, and they are also listed in the Notes field of the data sheets of their parent compounds. Their IUPAC systematic names, CAS systematic names, CAS Registry Numbers and molecular formulae are included in the indexes.

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