| abstract |
Detection of herbicides that interfere with the photosystem II of plants is effected by a competitive binding assay in which a quinone aldehyde (I) and the herbicide compete for binding to photosystem II receptors. The source of photosystem II receptors may be (a) reaction centres isolated from photosynthetic bacteria, e.g. Rhodobacter sphaeroides, or (b) thyalkoid prepns. isolated from green plants, e.g. spinach. (I) is a quinone nonanal, e.g. 9-(5,6-dimethoxy-3-methyl- 1,4-benzoquinon-2-yl)nonanal, 9-(1,4-benzoquinon-2-yl)nonanal or 9-(1,4-naphthoquinon-2-yl)nonanal or 9-(3-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinon-2-yl)nonanal. USE - The assay may be used, e.g., to detect contamination of drinking water by herbicides such as triazines or phenylureas. |