Highly Efficient Degradation of Thiophosphate Pesticides Catalyzed by Platinum and Palladium Aryl Oxime Metallacycles

Abstract

A 109-fold increase in efficiency is observed when the hydrolysis of sulfur-containing pesticides of the parathion and coumaphos type is carried out in the presence of cycloplatinated aryl oximes (see reaction scheme), even when the catalyst concentration is as low as 10−4 M. These robust catalysts are thus comparable in activity to organophosphate hydrolases, which detoxify the organophosphoric species by the same reaction.