Compendium of Pesticide Common Names

Introduction

What is the function of the Compendium?

There is no official mechanism for announcing new ISO names when they are provisionally approved, and there can be a delay of several years before names are finally approved and published in an ISO Standard. Probably the only printed document that includes all of the ISO common names is The Pesticide Manual, but this is published at intervals of 3–4 years.

This electronic compendium is intended to provide details of the status of all pesticide common names, together with their systematic chemical names, molecular formulae, structural formulae and CAS Registry Numbers®. It is designed to function like a database, with several indexes that provide access to the data sheets. The Compendium is updated each time that new common names are provisionally approved, and whenever names are finally approved and published in a standard or an amendment.

If you are not familiar with pesticides and their chemistry, then you may find it helpful to read the basic introduction and to look up terms in the the glossary.

This compendium is not intended to include trade names or code numbers; these can be identified using publications such as The Pesticide Index, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.

The Compendium includes:

1) Data sheets

A data sheet for each of the 1125 substances for which common names have been approved by ISO, up to December 2007.
- Names that are marked as “published” have completed the approval process and have been published in an ISO Standard, addendum or amendment. There are 863 names in this category.
- Names that are marked as “approved” have also completed the approval process but have not yet been published in an ISO Standard, addendum or amendment. There are 262 of these names, comprised of:
  - 262 names in Draft Amendment 5, which were approved from 1984 to 2007 and are expected to be published in 2008 (including 48 names from Draft Addendum 5 which were approved in 1984, 45 names from Draft Addendum 6 which were approved in 1984, 52 names from Draft Addendum 7 which were approved in 1986, and 55 names from Draft Addendum 8 which were approved in 1990).
A data sheet for each of 160 substances for which common names have been approved by organizations other than ISO, and for which there is no corresponding ISO common name.
A data sheet for each of 119 substances included in ISO 765-1976 Pesticides considered not to require common names; 3,6-dichloropicolinic acid has since been assigned the ISO common name clopyralid.
A data sheet for each of 17 substances included in BS 1831:1969 Appendix C Organic Pesticides Not Requiring Common Names but not included in ISO 765-1976; bisphenylmercury methylenedi(x-naphthalene-y-sulphonate) has since been assigned the WHO INN hydrargaphen.
A data sheet for each of 99 other substances that are known by trivial names or short chemical names, and for which there is no ISO common name.
A data sheet for each of 327 ester and salt derivatives of substances that have common names, and where the biological activity lies in the parent compound.

Each data sheet includes the status of the common name, its IUPAC and CAS systematic names, its CAS Registry Number®, its molecular formula, its activity (using terms from the Classified lists of pesticides), notes on alternative names and simple esters and salts, its structural formula, and its InChI identifier (generated from structures drawn in the free version of ChemSketch from Advanced Chemistry Development, Inc. (ACD/Labs)).

CAS Registry Number® is a Registered Trademark of the American Chemical Society.

2) Indexes

An index of all common names, including common names used in countries where particular ISO names are not acceptable and some trivial names, plus names of substances that are considered by ISO (or BSI) not to require common names.
An index of non-ISO common names, restricted to substances that do not have ISO common names and listed under the organizations that assign names, plus substances considered by ISO (or BSI) not to require common names.
An index of ester and salt derivatives.
An index of new data sheets.
An index of updated data sheets.
An index of IUPAC systematic names.
An index of Chemical Abstracts systematic names.
An index of Chemical Abstracts Registry Numbers.
An index of molecular formulae.
A KLIC index of common names.

The indexes of IUPAC systematic names, Chemical Abstracts systematic names, Registry Numbers, and molecular formulae contain entries for over 300 simple esters and salts, in addition to the entries for their parent compounds.

3) Pesticide classification

Classified lists of pesticides, in which each major group of pesticides (e.g. herbicides) is subdivided into chemical classes (e.g. chloroacetanilide herbicides). As an aid to navigating the longer lists, there are summaries containing just the chemical classes and not the individual substances. There is also a list of the chemical classes.
The CAB Thesaurus and the NAL Agricultural Thesaurus use a simplified version of this classification.

How are pesticides named?

Technical Committee 81 of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has devised a system for naming pesticides, with the aim of ensuring that common names indicate similarities between related compounds, do not conflict with any other names, and are suitable for use in many languages. New common names for pest control chemicals are provisionally approved each year by the Committee, and are then used in the literature and on product labels. These names are equivalent to the generic names of pharmaceuticals.

International standards

ISO 257-2004 Pesticides and other agrochemicals – Principles for the selection of common names
ISO 765-1976 Pesticides considered not to require common names
ISO 1750-1981 Pesticides and other agrochemicals – Common names
ISO 1750-1981/Add. 1-1983 Pesticides and other agrochemicals – Common names, Addendum 1
ISO 1750-1981/Add. 2-1983 Pesticides and other agrochemicals – Common names, Addendum 2
ISO 1750-1981/Amd. 1-1982 Pesticides and other agrochemicals – Common names, Amendment 1
ISO 1750-1981/Amd. 2-1999 Pesticides and other agrochemicals – Common names, Amendment 2
ISO 1750-1981/Amd. 3-2001 Pesticides and other agrochemicals – Common names, Amendment 3
ISO 1750:1981/Amd. 4:2008 Pesticides and other agrochemicals – Common names, Amendment 4

Please send any comments on this Compendium to:

Alan Wood
Justis Publishing Limited
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