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Résumé :
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The herbicidal properties of glyphosate were discovered at Monsanto Agricultural Products Company in 1970 by Dr. John E. Franz. Glyphosate was introduced as a new commercial herbicide in 1974 and is now sold in at least 119 countries in more than 100 agricultural and industrial applications. Glyphosate is marketed under numerous trade- marks, including Roundup* herbicide. Worldwide sales of Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides in 1993 have been estimated to be more than $1 billion. The 1985 monograph entitled The Herbicide Glyphosate** reviewed much of the literature concerning glyphosate up until that time. However, that monograph contained little detailed information concerning the chemistry of glyphosate, inasmuch as studies of this type generally were not available. On the other hand, the efficacy of glyphosate-based herbicides under field conditions was discussed in some detail. A recent search of the Chemical Abstracts database identified over 3,000 references to glyphosate or N-phosphonomethylglycine in the literature since 1972. More than half of this new information describing the herbicide glyphosate was published after the 1985 monograph. The present monograph reviews much of the new work that was reported in the glyphosate area between 1985 and 1995, including a comprehensive review of glyphosate chemistry disclosed in patents and publications, as well as some unpublished work. This monograph contains 14 chapters on the chemical and environmental properties of glyphosate-its metabolism, toxicology, formulations, uptake and transport in plants, methods of preparation, derivatives and analog chemistry, structure/activity studies, mode of action, and molecular biology. All opinions and conclusions expressed in these sections are solely those of the authors.
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