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The acute LD50 in virginal NMRI-Mice was found to be 2528 mg/kg for monolinuron and 1791 mg/kg for buturon. Pregnant female mice of the NMRI strain were administered orally 25--1000 mg monolinuron/kg (I) and 100-400 mg buturon/kg (II) on days 6--15 of gestation and, during defined phases of fetal development (days 10--13 after conception), 500 mg I/kg and 350 mg II/kg. Following administration of 10 doses, an increase of postimplantative losses and clear retardation of development in the upper dose range from 100 mg I/kg and 300 mg II/kg as well as a dose-dependent increase of the rate of cleft palates could be observed. High doses of both substances given from day 6--15 of pregnancy produced minor numbers of wavy and fused ribs as well as hypoplasia of the upper jaw after application of monolinuron and exenteria and exencephaly after buturon. Administration of monolinuron between days 10 and 13 of gestation resulted a minor and that of buturon a clear increase of the number of cleft palates. To evaluate postnatal development 200 and 500 mg I/kg, and 200 and 300 mg II/kg were administered orally on days 6--15 of gestation. In the higher doses, both substances produced an increased mortality among the offspring up to 3 weeks after birth, and a clear increase of the rate of cleft palates.

The phenylurea herbicide linuron is hydrolyzed by Bacillus sphaericus ATCC 12123 quantitatively forming 3,4-dichloroaniline, CO2, and N,O-dimethylhydroxylamine. The inducible enzyme responsible for this hydrolysis was purified to homogeneity as judged by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Its molecular weight was 75 000 +/- 10%. Studies on its substrate specificity showed that either whole cells as the linuron-induced enzyme hydrolyze a large number of herbicidal and fungicidal acylanilides, the methoxysubstituted phenylureas and the phenylcarbamate propham at the carbonyl-aniline bond. This would classify the enzyme as an aryl acylamidase (E.C. 3.5.1). Hydrolysis of phenylamides by whole cells and by the enzyme is inhibited by different methylcarbamate and organophosphorus insecticides. Inhibition of hydrolysis of linuron by the aryl acylamidase by methylcarbamates is a competitive one.

The biotransformation of radioactively labelled monolinuron (N-(4-chloro[U-14C]phenyl)-N'-methyl-N'-methoxyurea) was studied in the isolated perfused liver of the chicken. After a 4-hr perfusion, 83.1% of the added radioactivity was recovered, 56.6% in the perfusion medium and 26.5% in the liver and bile. The fraction of radioactivity extractable from the perfusion medium into ethyl acetate amounted to 47.8% of the added dose. In addition to monolinuron, five breakdown products were identified in this extract, namely N-(4-chlorophenyl)-N'-hydroxymethyl-N'-methoxyurea, N-(4-chlorophenyl)-N'-methoxyurea, N-(4-chlorophenyl)-N'-methylurea, 4-chlorophenylurea and 4-chloroacetanilide. Of particular interest was the absence of arylhydroxylated monolinuron derivatives, since in monolinuron-metabolism studies in the laying hen 2-hydroxy-4-chlorophenylurea and 3-hydroxy-4-chlorophenylurea were both detected. This differing metabolism corresponds to earlier findings in the rat, in which arylhydroxylated breakdown products were detected only in in vivo studies and not in rat-liver perfusion. Possible reasons for the differing metabolism of monolinuron in vivo and in vitro are discussed.