This book presents essential research on a class of environmentally friendly alkylphosphonate herbicides. This class of herbicides acted as a competitive inhibitor of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDHc) to control weeds. The bioreasoning and systematic approach, from basic research to field tests of candidate compounds, are introduced. The basic research covers the molecular design, chemical synthesis, biological activities evaluation, structure-activity relationship analysis and structural optimization. Subsequently, the book reviews the biochemistry of PDHc inhibitors, the...