Novel benzo-1,2,3-thiadiazole-7-carboxylate derivatives as plant activators and the development of their agricultural applications

Plant activators are a novel kind of agrochemicals that could induce resistance in many plants against a broad spectrum of diseases. To date, only few plant activators have been commercialized. In order to develop novel plant activators, a series of benzo-1,2,3-thiadiazole-7-carboxylate derivatives were synthesized, and the structures were characterized by ¹H NMR, IR, elemental analyses, and HRMS or MS. Their potential systemic acquired resistance as plant activators was evaluated as well. Most of them showed good activity, especially, fluoro-containing compounds 3d and 3e, which displayed excellent SAR-inducing activity against cucumber Erysiphe cichoracearum and Colletotrichum lagenarium in assay screening. Field test results illustrated that compounds 3d and 3e were more potent than the commercial plant activator, S-methyl benzo[1,2,3]thiadiazole-7-carbothioate (BTH) toward these pathogens. Further, the preparation of compound 3d is more facile than BTH with lower cost, which will be helpful for further applications in agricultural plant protection.