dichlorprop

Dichlorprop is a chlorophenoxy herbicide similar in structure to 2,4-D that is used to kill annual and perennial broadleaf weeds. It is a component of many common weedkillers. About 4 million pounds of dichlorprop are used annually in the United States.

==Chemistry== 200px|thumb|left|R-dichlorprop (dichlorprop-p) Dichlorprop possesses a single asymmetric carbon and is therefore a chiral molecule, however only the R-isomer is active as an herbicide. When dichlorprop was first marketed in the 1960s, it was sold as racemic mixture of stereoisomers, but since then advances in asymmetric synthesis have made possible the production of the enantiopure compound. Today, only R-dichlorprop (also called dichlorprop-p or 2,4-DP-p) and its derivatives are sold as pesticides in the United States.