An efficient method for organic acetylation and use of DL-phosphinothricin as a negative selection agent in argE transgenic rice.

We present an efficient method for the production of N-acetyl-L-phosphinothricin (N-AcPt) from commercial DL-phosphinothricin (DL-PPT) by organic acetylation for use as a negative selection agent (NSA) that induces cell death in argE transgenic rice. DL-PPT was efficiently converted into N-AcPt with tetrahydrofuran (THF) and acetic anhydride (Ac2O). Chemical changes were confirmed using NMR and ATR-FTIR analyses.