Mandestrobin is a novel fungicide having a methoxyacetamid structure which has been commercially developed by Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. Mandestrobin has good fungicidal properties, such as a broad antifungal activity spectrum, preventive efficacy, curative efficacy, translaminar ability, long lasting activity, good rainfastness, and low risk of phytotoxicity against major crops. Mandestrobin also shows safer profiles for human health and the environment.
In Japan, a formulated product, SCLEA^® flowable, has been registered since 2015 and was launched in 2016. Mandestrobin is also under commercial development in EU countries, USA, Canada, Brazil, Australia and Korea, with trademarks such as INTUITY^®.
(by Dai HIROTOMI, Nobuhito UEDA, So KIGUCHI, Masaji HIROTA, Katsumasa IWASHITA, Rika KODAKA)

The existence of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) was suggested in the late 1990s, and concern about their effects on humans and wild animals has gathered a lot of public attention. This resulted in a worldwide reinforcement of regulations for EDCs, and the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency published their Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP) and started an evaluation of EDCs. In this article, we introduce our approach to and achievements in the evaluation of EDCs. In addition, we provide an overview of EDSP and the result of an EDSP assessment of Sumitomo Chemical’s compound, Pyriproxyfen.
(by Kenta MINAMI, Keiko OSE, Takafumi YAMAGUCHI)

In recent years, various actions for saving resources and energy have been taken and the demand for a contribution by tires to saving energy has become higher. In order to achieve energy savings from tires, the reduction of rolling resistance, which is one of the resistances against driving force, is very important. In this article, we review the trends in the field of coupling agents and report on the performance of newlydeveloped carbon black coupling agents for energy-saving tires.
(by Yasuo UEKITA, Yousuke WATANABE, Hironobu IYAMA, Orhan OZTURK)

Guntoner^®SC is a novel termiticide for use by termite control operators and contains clothianidin as the active ingredient. Although Guntoner^®SC was developed and registered as a soil-applied termiticide, it would be practically more useful if it could give excellent efficacy when applied as concrete surface and elimination treatments against Coptotermes formosanus and/or Reticulitermes speratus, and when used as direct spray as well as wood surface treatments against Incisitermes minor alates. The present report describes the methodology and biological performance of the novel termiticide Guntoner^®SC against termites.
(by Seietsu AKI, Kaori MAENISHI, Asako KAWABATA, Tomoko AMADA)