The invention relates to aryl vinyl ether compounds of formula (I):
1
wherein R
1
, R
2
and Y are as defined in the description; to compositions containing them, processes and intermediates for their preparation and a method of controlling weeds by means of such compositions.
Hemiacetal cleavage catalyst 1 was designed, synthesized, and shown to be effective in promoting glycolaldehyde dimer dissociation and tetramethylglucose mutarotation.