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Imazosulfuron, 1-(2-chloroimidazo [1,2-a] pyridin-3-ylsulfonyl)-3-(4,6-dimethoxypyrimidin-2-yl)urea, is a new sulfonylurea herbicide applied once per growing season. It is highly active at low application levels and is used to control most annual and perennial broad-leaf weeds and some grasses in cereal crop. In this work the degradation of imazosulfuron in four different soils was investigated under aerobic laboratory conditions to evaluate its environmental fate. Test soils were treated with this herbicide in acetonitrile to obtain a final concentration of 0.2 mg kg⁻¹ (100 g ha⁻¹), extracted with methylene chloride and analyzed by reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) using a C18 column coupled with UV detection. Recoveries of spiked soils ranged from 84.3 to 99.8% (RDS 0.0–4.9%; n = 4). The limits of quantitation ranged from 0.002 to 0.004 mg kg⁻¹. Imazosulfuron half-life, t1/2, was calculated in each of the investigated soil. In aerobic conditions it ranged between 1 and 50 days. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.