Atrazine (ATZ)

Atrazine is a herbicide of the triazine class. Atrazine is used to prevent pre and post-emergence broadleaf weeds in crops such as maize (corn) and sugarcane and on turf, such as golf courses and residential lawns.Atrazine is prepared from cyanuric chloride, which is treated sequentially with ethylamine and isopropyl amine. Like other triazine herbicides, atrazine functions by binding to the plastoquinone-binding protein in photosystem II, which animals lack. Plant death results from starvation and oxidative damage caused by breakdown in the electron transport process. Oxidative damage is accelerated at high light intensity. Atrazine's effects in humans and animals primarily involve the endocrine system. Atrazine is a suspected teratogen, causing demasculinization in male northern leopard frogs even at low concentrations, and an estrogen disruptor.