Mercury Compounds 
HgClo [Mercuric chloride] 
Hg, Cl, [Mercurous chloride] 
The insecticidal action of mercury salts was related to their de- 
composition by soil organisms and the release of mercury vapors. This 
reaction required moisture and proceeded more rapidly as soil pH and 
temperature was increased (483). Mercury could be recovered from leaves 
of plants exposed to soil which had been moistened with bichloride of 
mercury (1543). 
2-Chloro-4—-hydroxymercuri phenol (1) Methylmercury dicyandiamide 
Cyano(Methylmercuri) guanidine (II Methylmercury chloride 
Ethylmercury Acetate Phenylmercury Acetate 
Studies with organo-mercurials indicated that fungicidal inactivation 
occurred either by sorption, as with Trichoderma viride and 2-Chloro-4- 
hydroxymercuri phenol; or by sorption followed by metabolic breakdown of the 
fungicide as with compound Cyano(Methylmercuri) guanidine with Penicillium 
notatum or Aspergillus niger and compound Cyano(Methylmercuri) guanidine with 
Bacillus spp. (1338). 
Non-volatile phenylmercury acetate was degraded to mercury and lost as 
a vapor. Ethylmercury acetate was also degraded to mercury but was lost 
as mercury and organomercury vapors. Methylmercury dicyandiamide and 
chloride did not give any significant metallic mercury vapor and their loss 
from soil was as the result of the volatility of the organo-mercurial (796). 
Phenylmercuric acetate decomposed rapidly in a culture of wheat root 
tissue. Sulfhydryl groups accelerated decomposition (1572). 
240 
