Growth Repression of Higher Plants by 2-Pyridinethiol, 1-Oxide.

The compound 2-pyridinethiol, 1-oxide and its salts have been reported to have pronounced antibacterial and antifungal activity of a type that, were it a microbiological product, would cause it to be classed as a broad-spectrum antibiotic (5, 8). This property is shared by a number of other cyclic thiohydroxamic acids, variously substituted, though some are much more active than others. The high potency of this grouping, and the diversity of microorganisms to which compounds containing it are inhibitory, suggest interference with some essential metabolic process. Furthermore, certain antibiotics of comparable potency have been found to repress growth in some plant systems (1, 3, 4). Accordingly, the activity of 2-pyrio0