Photodegradation of metsulfuron methyl in aqueous solution

Metsulfuron methyl (1) was effectively degraded by ultra violet light in aqueous solution. About 50% of 1 was degraded within 15 hours. A new metabolite (2) of metsulfuron methyl was isolated and characterised along with phenyl sulfonamide (3) and an unidentified photometabolite (4). The pathway of photodegradation of metsulfuron methyl has been proposed.