The complexes of some s-triazine herbicides with metal cations studied by ESI mass spectrometry and theoretical calculations

The complex formation of s-triazine herbicides (prometon, ametryn, terbutryn and simazin) with monovalent and divalent cations as well as the structure of the complexes was studied by the electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and PM5 semiempirical methods. It is demonstrated that the herbicides studied form stable complexes with monovalent and heavy metal cations, which is of very great importance for agriculture especially in the aspect of the environment protection. q 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved