Rats metabolise buturon within 4 days and remove 68% and 20% by urine and faeces respectively.[6]
Soil behaviour
Buturon rapidly degrades in the environment, and is not persistent, though some metabolites are.[5]
Wheat metabolises about 25% of buturon after seven days. Nutrient deficient plants metabolise it significantly faster though. The main metabolite groups are carbamates, unstable products, a group containing p-chloroacetanilide and conjugates. Nutrient-deficiency also decreases absorption and translocation, which is conjectured to passively rely on the flow of water. Plant metabolism may occur independently in roots and shoots.[7]
In a trial on mice given high daily doses of buturon, 100 to 400 mg/kg/day, and for comparison the LD50 is 1791 mg/kg, buturon induced postimplantative loss and retardation of development at doses over 300 mg/kg/day, and a dose-dependent trend of cleft palate, wavy or fused ribs and hypoplasia of the upper jaw.[8]
^"Buturon". pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. PubChem. Retrieved 29 May 2025.
^ abReiml, Dieter; Scheunert, Irene; Korte, Friedhelm (January 1989). "Leaching of conversion products of [14C]-buturon from soil during 12 years after application". Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 37 (1): 244–248. Bibcode:1989JAFC...37..244R. doi:10.1021/jf00085a057.
^Grunow, W.; Altmann, H. -J.; Böhme, Chr. (1 January 1978). "Metabolisierung von Buturon in der Ratte". Food and Cosmetics Toxicology. 16 (4): 349–353. doi:10.1016/S0015-6264(78)80006-6. PMID711055.
^HAQUE, A.-U., WEISGERBER, I., & KLEIN, W. (1977). Absorption, Efflux, and Metabolism of the Herbicide [14C]Buturon as Affected by Plant Nutrition. Journal of Experimental Botany, 28(103), 468–479. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23689388
^Matthiaschk, G.; Roll, R. (1 December 1977). "Untersuchungen über die Embryotoxizität von Monolinuron und Buturon bei NMRI-Mäusen". Archives of Toxicology. 38 (4): 261–274. Bibcode:1977ArTox..38..261M. doi:10.1007/BF00352031.