Herbicidal Composition and Weed Control Method Pairing Trifludimoxazin with Partner Chemistry

This patent covers weed control mixtures that combine the herbicide trifludimoxazin with a second ingredient, either another herbicide or a safener that protects the crop, in defined ratios. It comes from Sumitomo Chemical Company, Limited, one of Japan’s largest chemical manufacturers.

The Problem

Weeds compete with crops for light, water and nutrients, and controlling them is one of the largest recurring costs in broadacre farming. Many herbicides are already on the market, and among them a substantial group works by inhibiting an enzyme called protoporphyrinogen oxidase, usually shortened to PPO. Trifludimoxazin is one of these: a benzoxazine compound with known herbicidal activity that acts through PPO inhibition.

Relying on any single mode of action creates two problems. The first is herbicide resistance. Repeatedly exposing a weed population to the same chemistry selects for the rare individuals that survive it, and within a few seasons the product stops working. Australia has among the worst resistance problems in the world, particularly in annual ryegrass. The second is spectrum. No single active ingredient controls every weed a grower faces, so a product that works well on one species may leave another untouched. Mixing actives addresses both, but only if the partners are compatible and the ratio is right, and mixtures can damage the crop as readily as the weed.

What This Invention Does

The composition combines trifludimoxazin with at least one compound chosen from two defined groups: a herbicide compound group B, or a safener group C. The weight ratio of trifludimoxazin to that partner compound is specified as falling between 1 to 0.1 and 1 to 50, a range wide enough to cover both a small dose of a potent partner and a large dose of a mild one.

The two partner categories do different jobs. A second herbicide broadens the range of weeds controlled and, if it acts by a different mechanism, slows the development of resistance, since a weed would need to survive two independent attacks rather than one. A safener works the other way around: it is added not to kill weeds but to protect the crop, typically by speeding up the crop plant’s own ability to break the herbicide down before it does damage. That is what allows an aggressive herbicide to be used over a crop it would otherwise injure. The application also claims the corresponding method of controlling weeds using these compositions, and reports that the combinations give an excellent controlling effect.

Key Features

• Trifludimoxazin base. The composition is built around trifludimoxazin, a benzoxazine PPO-inhibiting herbicide.
• Two partner categories. The partner is drawn either from a defined herbicide compound group B or a defined safener group C.
• Specified ratio range. The weight ratio of trifludimoxazin to partner runs from 1 to 0.1 through to 1 to 50.
• Broadened weed spectrum. Herbicide partners extend control across a wider range of weed species.
• Crop protection option. Safener partners protect the crop rather than adding herbicidal action.
• Weed control method claimed. A corresponding method of controlling weeds using the composition is included.

Who Is Behind It

The applicant is Sumitomo Chemical Company, Limited, headquartered in Tokyo, a diversified chemical group whose crop protection division is a significant global supplier of herbicides, insecticides and fungicides. The named inventor is Yoshinobu Jin. The application is a divisional of Australian application 2019393191 and claims priority from Japanese patent application 2018-229701, filed on 7 December 2018.

Why It Matters

Herbicide resistance costs Australian grain growers hundreds of millions of dollars a year in reduced yields and more expensive control programs, and the industry has responded by pushing hard on mixing and rotating modes of action. PPO inhibitors have taken on more importance as resistance to older chemistry has spread, which makes formulation patents around them commercially significant. Safener chemistry matters for a related reason: it determines which crops a given herbicide can legally and safely be sprayed over, and therefore how large the market for that active ingredient is. Any product would still need registration by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority before it could be sold here.

Related Concepts

• Herbicide – the product class this composition belongs to.
• Herbicide resistance – the problem that drives mixing modes of action.
• Safener – the crop-protecting additive forming one partner group.
• Protoporphyrinogen oxidase – the enzyme trifludimoxazin inhibits.
• Weed control – the agricultural practice the method serves.
• Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority – the regulator that would assess an Australian product registration.

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AU 2026202036 was published in the Australian Official Journal of Patents on 2 April 2026 and is open for public inspection. Patent applications represent inventions that are sought to be protected and do not necessarily reflect commercially available products.