Method of protecting plants from pathogens with cyanomethyl aryl sulfonates

DETAILED DESCRIPTION We claim: 1.
A method of inhibiting fungi or bacteria pathogenic to plants which comprises applying to said fungi, bacteria or the locus thereof a biocidally effective amount within the range of about 0.
1 pound to about 20 pounds per acre of a cyanomethyl arylsulfonate represented by the formula RSO.
sub.
3 CH.
sub.
2 CN where R is ##STR3## wherein X is selected from the group consisting of halogen, alkyl having from 1 to 18 carbon atoms, alkoxy having from 1 to 18 carbon atoms, NO.
sub.
2, CN, CF.
sub.
3, CONH.
sub.
2, SO.
sub.
2 NH.
sub.
2, H.
sub.
2 NCOO, COOH, YSO.
sub.
2 and OOCY, wherein Y is lower alkyl, and m is 0 or an integer of 1 to 3.
2.
The method according to claim 1 wherein m is 0.




Description:
This invention concerns a method of protecting plants from pathogens and plant diseases by treatment of the locus to be protected with a cyanomethyl arylsulfonate.
Many of the organisms that inhabit the soil subsist on living plants and may injure the roots and other underground portions, others may attack the crown of the plant, while still others are capable of damaging the stem and other above-ground portions of the plant.
Fungi, bacteria and like plant pathogens attack a broad spectrum of plants including field crops, truck crops, cereals and grasses, and ornamental and house plants, including corn, soybeans, cotton, beets, sugar beets, oats, peanuts, onions, alfalfa, apples, peaches, beans, lettuce, celery, potatoes and others.
The seriousness of the problem is enhanced when plants are grown year after year in the soil because the ready food supply nourishes the pathogens.
Cyanomethyl benzenesulfonate and cyanomethyl toluenesulfonate are known compounds: see "Preparation and Reactions of .
alpha.
-Cyanoalkyl Benzenesulfonates," H.
W.
Turner, Univ.
Microfilms, Pub.
No.
3082 (1952) Chem.
Abs.
47, 2726a); J.
Lichtenberger and C.
Faure, Bull Soc.
Chim.
France 1948, pp.
995-1001 (Chem.
Abs.
43, 2941i).
Neither reference suggests that cyanomethyl benzenesulfonates might have activity against plant pathogens