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CAS: 61791-26-2
APPLICATIONS
The polyethoxylated tallow amine used as a surfactant is referred to in the literature as MON 0139 or polyoxyethyleneamine (POEA).
Polyethoxylated tallow amine is contained in the herbicide Roundup.
An ethoxylated tallow amine (CAS No. 61791-26-2), is on the United States Environmental Protection Agency List 3 of Inert Ingredients of Pesticides.":
Roundup Pro is a formulation of glyphosate that contains a "phosphate ester neutralized polyethoxylated tallow amine" surfactant; as of 1997 there was no published information regarding the chemical differences between the surfactant in Roundup and Roundup Pro.
Polyethoxylated tallow amine concentrations range from <1% in ready-to-use glyphosate formulations to 21% in concentrates.
Polyethoxylated tallow amine constitutes 15% of Roundup formulations and the phosphate ester neutralized polyethoxylated tallow amine surfactant constitutes 14.5% of Roundup Pro.
Surfactants are added to glyphosate to allow effective uptake of water-soluble glyphosate across plant cuticles, which are hydrophobic, and reduces the amount of glyphosate washed off plants by rain.
Polyethoxylated tallow amine (POEA) is a non-ionic surfactant used in herbicide formulations to increase the efficacy of active ingredients.
Polyethoxylated tallow amine promotes penetration of herbicide active ingredients into plant cuticles, and in animal species is known to cause alterations in respiratory surfaces.
Polyethoxylated tallow amine use has increased recently with the advent of "Roundup-Ready" crops; however, its potential effects on aquatic invertebrates are relatively unknown.
The aquatic macroinvertebrate Thamnocephalus platyurus (Crustacea, Anostraca) was used to assess the acute toxicity of Polyethoxylated tallow amine.
Polyethoxylated tallow amine (POEA) is a surfactant that enhances the activity of herbicides.
Polyethoxylated tallow amine improves the solubility of many common herbicides in organic solvents, increasing their penetration of the waxy surfaces of plants.
Also, Polyethoxylated tallow amine may interfere with the function of tadpole gills.
This surfactant, Polyethoxylated tallow amine, is not regulated under environmental laws because Polyethoxylated tallow amine is not considered an active ingredient in the herbicide.
DESCRIPTION
Polyethoxylated tallow amine (also polyoxyethyleneamine, POEA) refers to a range of non-ionic surfactants derived from animal fats (tallow).
They are used primarily as emulsifiers and wetting agents for agrochemical formulations, such as pesticides and herbicides (e.g. glyphosate).
Polyethoxylated tallow amine is Non-ionic surfactants.
Polyethoxylated tallow amine is composed of tallow amine and 2 chains of ethoxylate POEA molecules will be described by the number of carbon atoms in the tallow atom moity and the number.
SYTHESIS
Animal fat is hydrolysed to give a mixture of free fatty acids, typically oleic (37–43%), palmitic (24–32%), stearic (20–25%), myristic (3–6%), and linoleic (2–3%). These are then converted to fatty amines via the nitrile process before being ethoxylated with ethylene oxide; this makes them water-soluble and amphiphilic.
The length of the fatty tail and degree of exothylation will determine the overall properties of the surfactant.
Due to it being synthesized from an impure material Polyethoxylated tallow amine is itself a mixture of compounds.
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
The chemical complexity of Polyethoxylated tallow amine makes it difficult to study in the environment.
Polyethoxylated tallow amine is toxic to aquatic species like fish and amphibians.
Like other surfactants, Polyethoxylated tallow amine can affect membrane transport and can often act as a general narcotic.
In laboratory experiments Polyethoxylated tallow amine has a half-life in soils of less than 7 days.
Washout from soil is assumed to be minimal, and the estimated half-life in bodies of water would be about 2 weeks.
Field experiments have shown that the half-life of Polyethoxylated tallow amine in shallow waters is about 13 hours, "further supporting the concept that any potential direct effects of formulated products on organisms in natural waters are likely to occur very shortly post-treatment rather than as a result of chronic or delayed toxicity."
A review of the literature provided to the EPA in 1997 found that Polyethoxylated tallow amine was generally more potent in causing toxicity to aquatic organisms than glyphosate, and that Polyethoxylated tallow amine becomes more potent in more alkaline environments.
Glyphosate has an LD50 ranging from 4.2 times that of Polyethoxylated tallow amine for midge larvae at pH 6.5, to 369 times that of Polyethoxylated tallow amine for rainbow trout at pH 9.5 (for comparison, at pH 6.5 the LC50 of glyphosate was 70 times that of Polyethoxylated tallow amine for rainbow trout).
The pH value of most freshwater streams and lakes is between 6.0 and 9.0; fish species are harmed by water having a pH value outside of this range.
HUMAN TOXICITY
A review published in 2000 examining the toxicity of Polyethoxylated tallow amine and other components in glyphosate formulations found "no convincing evidence for direct DNA damage in vitro or in vivo, and it was concluded that Roundup and its components do not pose a risk for the production of heritable/somatic mutations in humans.
Glyphosate, AMPA, and Polyethoxylated tallow amine were not teratogenic or developmentally toxic.
Likewise there were no adverse effects in reproductive tissues from animals treated with glyphosate, AMPA, or Polyethoxylated tallow amine in chronic and/or subchronic studies."
Another review, published in 2004, said that with respect to glyphosate formulations, "experimental studies suggest that the toxicity of the surfactant, Polyethoxylated tallow amine (POEA), is greater than the toxicity of glyphosate alone and commercial formulations alone.
There is insufficient evidence to conclude that glyphosate preparations containing Polyethoxylated tallow amine are more toxic than those containing alternative surfactants.
Although surfactants probably contribute to the acute toxicity of glyphosate formulations, the weight of evidence is against surfactants potentiating the toxicity of glyphosate."
SYNONYMS
POE tallow amine
POE Tallowamine
POE-TPA
Tallowamine-polyethoxylated
POEA
