Sorptive Interactions Evaluation of Benomyl Metabolites Mecarzole with the Varyingly Selected Minerals

Abstract

Soil and soil minerals are the primary recipients of different contaminates coming in immediate contact.Agricultural practices which are dominated by use of different agrochemicals have further aggravated the soil quality.Fungicides, aimed at the extermination, inhibition and growth retardation of fungal species in agricultural crops havebeen used frequently. Among such fungicides, Benzimidazole based fungicides are of prime significance due to theircomparatively improved annihilatory activity. Despite such frequent utilization, the reports on the reception andconsequent sorption of Benzimidazole fungicides are scarce. Current work has, for the first time, investigated theinteraction of Benzimidazole based fungicide, Mecarzole (metabolite of Benomyl fungicide and also known asCarbendazim) in the selected minerals i.e. corundum (alumina), silica, muscovite and montmorillonite. The interactionwas studied via standard equilibration method established in batches. Adsorption and desorption of Mecarzole in theselected minerals was evaluated by multilayer Linear and Freundlich model for different parameters i.e. Kd, Kf, Kfdesand Kdes. Linearity was exhibited by the minerals for attachment of Mecarzole. The highest values of Kd (6.93 mL. µg-1) and Kf (7.99 mL. µg-1) obtained for muscovite are indicative of the higher affinity of muscovite for Mecarzole incomparison to other three minerals. Excellent adsorption of Mecarzole in muscovite is suggestive of the fact thatMecarzole interacting with muscovite is not a threat towards lower soil profiles since there is a stronger bonding. Incontrast to muscovite, Mecarzole poorly adsorbed in alumina represents a threat to soils due to possible percolation ofpoorly adsorbed Mecarzole molecules.