Food & Drink / Compounds / Trinexapac-ethyl

Trinexapac-ethyl in food: ingestion safety

Low risk

(People-specific data is limited; this page draws from human adult context.) Very low mammalian toxicity. Oral LD50 >5000 mg/kg in rats. Non-irritating to skin. Minimal eye irritation. No evidence of carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, or reproductive toxicity. EPA classified as reduced risk pesticide. Dietary exposure from treated cereals well within safety margins.

What is trinexapac-ethyl?

The IUPAC name is ethyl 4-[cyclopropyl(hydroxy)methylidene]-3,5-dioxocyclohexane-1-carboxylate.

Also known as: Primo MAXX, Moddus, Palisade, TE.

IUPAC name
ethyl 4-[cyclopropyl(hydroxy)methylidene]-3,5-dioxocyclohexane-1-carboxylate
CAS number
95266-40-3
Molecular formula
C13H16O5
Molecular weight
252.26 g/mol
SMILES
CCOC(=O)C1CC(=O)C(=C(O)C2CC2)C(=O)C1
PubChem CID
92421

Risk for people

Low risk

Very low mammalian toxicity. Oral LD50 >5000 mg/kg in rats. Non-irritating to skin. Minimal eye irritation. No evidence of carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, or reproductive toxicity. EPA classified as reduced risk pesticide. Dietary exposure from treated cereals well within safety margins.

Regulatory consensus

2 regulatory and scientific bodies have classified Trinexapac-ethyl. The classifications differ — that's the data.

AgencyYearClassificationNotes
EPA—Registered pesticide (plant growth regulator). Reduced risk pesticide. Tolerances for wheat, barley, oats, rye, and turf.
EU—Approved active substance (Reg. EC 1107/2009). MRLs set for cereals.

Regulators apply different standards of evidence — animal-data weighting, exposure-pattern assumptions, epidemiological power thresholds — which is why two scientific bodies can review the same data and reach different conclusions. The disagreement is the data.

Where you encounter trinexapac-ethyl

  • Turf Management — golf course turf (Primo MAXX), sports fields, lawns, sod farms
  • Agriculture — wheat (lodging prevention), barley (lodging prevention), oats, rye, rice
  • Food Residues — cereal grains, wheat flour/bread (trace)

Safer alternatives

Lower-risk approaches that achieve a similar outcome to Trinexapac-ethyl:

  • Prohexadione-calcium (Apogee/Regalis)
    Trade-offs: Same mechanism of action (GA biosynthesis inhibitor). Comparable safety profile. Different crop registrations.
  • Chlormequat chloride (CCC)
    Trade-offs: Different mechanism (inhibits earlier step in GA pathway). Higher mammalian toxicity than trinexapac-ethyl. Widely used in EU cereals.

Frequently asked questions

What products contain trinexapac-ethyl?

Trinexapac-ethyl appears in: golf course turf (Primo MAXX) (turf management); sports fields (turf management); wheat (lodging prevention) (agriculture); barley (lodging prevention) (agriculture); cereal grains (food residues).

See Trinexapac-ethyl in the food app

Look up products containing trinexapac-ethyl, compare to alternatives, and explore the full data record.

Open in food View raw API data

Sources (1)
  1. — expert_curation

Reference data, not professional advice. Aggregates publicly available regulatory and scientific data; not a substitute for veterinary, medical, legal, or regulatory advice. Why we built ALETHEIA →