The molecule is a member of the class of dithiocarbamic acids that is dithiocarbamic acid in which a hydrogen attached to the amino group has been replaced by a methyl group. It is used (most widely as the corresponding sodium salt, metam-sodium) as an agricultural pesticide, mainly as a broad spectrum soil fumigant for the control of weeds, nematodes, soil-borne insects and fungi. It has a role as a profungicide, a proherbicide, a proinsecticide and a pronematicide. It is an organosulfur insecticide and a member of dithiocarbamic acids. It is a conjugate acid of a metam(1-).
methylcarbamodithioic acid