Challenges and opportunities in the selective degradation of organophosphorus herbicide glyphosate

The wide and continuous usage of glyphosate in the environment poses a serious threat to biological systems. Besides the accumulation of glyphosate in vivo, a growing body of research has revealed that aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA), the main degradation intermediate of glyphosate, has significant environmental and biological influences by inducing chromosome aberration of fish and canceration of human erythrocyte. Therefore, the development of new strategies avoiding the generation of the toxic AMPA intermediate during the full degradation of glyphosate is becoming of high importance. Herein, we provide a mini-review that includes the most recent advances in the selective degradation of glyphosate avoiding the generation of AMPA in the last several years from 2018. The developments of the selective degradation of glyphosate, highlighting its synthesis and selective degradation mechanism, are summarized here. This review intends to attract more attention from researchers toward this area and to emphasize the recent developments of selective degradation of glyphosate in highlighting future challenges.