H Desulfuration and Ester Cleavage

1 h Desulfuration and Ester Cleavage. Organophosphorus insecticides containing the P=S moiety owe their insecticidal activity and their mammalian toxicity to an oxidative reaction in which the P=S group is converted to P=0, thereby converting compounds relatively inactive toward cholinesterases into potent cho- 

Much of the splitting of the phosphorus ester bonds in organophosphorus insecticides, which was formerly believed to be due entirely to hydrolysis, is now known also to be due to oxidative dearylation catalyzed by CYP. 

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