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Updated: May 17, 2026

Determination of the Absorption, Translocation, and Distribution of Imidacloprid in Wheat
Published on: April 28, 2023
The antihistamine diphenhydramine is extremely persistent in agricultural soil
Edward Topp1, Mark W Sumarah, Lyne Sabourin
1Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, London, ON, Canada N5V 4T3. ed.topp@agr.gc.ca
Abstract:
The widely used antihistamine diphenhydramine is present in municipal biosolids, and is detected in runoff from agricultural land fertilized with biosolids. In the present study the kinetics and major pathways of diphenhydramine dissipation in a loam, sandy loam, and clay loam soil were determined in laboratory incubations. The time to dissipate 50% (DT(50)) of (14)C-diphenhydramine residues at 30 °C ranged from 88 ± 28 days in the clay loam to 335 ± 145 days in the loam soil. Mineralization of (14)C was insignificant, and diphenhydramine-N-oxide was the only detected extractable transformation product elucidated by radioisotope and HPLC-MS methods. There were no significant effects of municipal biosolids on the kinetics or pathways of removal. Overall, diphenhydramine is quite persistent in soils, and formation of non-extractable soil-bound residues is the major mechanism of diphenhydramine dissipation.
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