Design, Synthesis, and Herbicidal Activity of Thioether Containing 1,2,4-Triazole Schiff Bases as Transketolase Inhibitors.

Transketolase (TK) represents a potential target for novel herbicide development. To discover novel TK inhibitors with potency against resistant weeds, 36 thioether compounds containing 1,2,4-triazole Schiff bases were designed and synthesized for herbicidal activity evaluation. The results demonstrated that compounds and provided excellent weed control with inhibition of over 90% against the tested weeds, even at concentrations as low as 100 mg/L . In addition, compounds and exhibited higher postemergence herbicidal activity than all of the positive controls against the tested weeds at 50-90 g [active ingredient (ai)]/ha in a greenhouse, while being safe for crops of maize and wheat at 90 g (ai)/ha. Fluorescent binding experiments of TK indicated that compounds and had strong TK inhibitory activity and could tightly bind with the enzyme TK. Also, molecular docking analyses revealed that the structures of compounds and were suitable for TK inhibitory activity. Taken together, these results suggested that compounds and were promising herbicide candidates for weed control in wheat and maize fields targeting TK.