A Non‐Volatile Pro‐Dicamba Herbicide Inspired by Meclofenoxate

Dicamba is a popular herbicide with rising use but is also notorious for volatility drift. Inspired by meclofenoxate, which we show to be highly herbicidal, we developed a derivative of dicamba with an ester‐bond to 2‐dimethylaminoethanol. It remained herbicidal but is non‐volatile, entering plants intact and hydrolyzing inside leaves to dicamba and 2‐dimethylaminoethanol. This pro‐dicamba is compatible with the relatively novel dicamba monooxygenase tolerance technology, suggesting pro‐dicamba might be a suitable, non‐volatile replacement for dicamba.