This study was carried out to investigate the stability of dinobuton (2-sec-butyl-4,6-dinitrophenyl isopropyl carbonate) in distilled water and buffer solutions and its persistence in soils. When dinobuton was incubated at $30^{circ}C$ and $60^{circ}C$ in distilled water, the half-lives of dinobuton was 28 and 6 days, respectively. The decomposition of dinobuton was, therefore, faster at high temperature than at low temperature. The half-life of dinobuton was about 27 days in the acidic solution $(pH; 4{sim}6)$, whereas 10 and 4 days in the alkaline solutions of pH 9, and 10, respectively. Thus dinobuton was stable in acidic solution, and unstable in alkaline solution. Dinoseb (2-sec-butyl-4,6-dinitrophenol), which is produced in the degradation process of dinobuton, was produced in small amounts in distilled water and buffer solutions. The half-life of dinobuton in sterilized soil was about 16 days longer than in non-sterilized soil. Dinoseb was also more persistent in sterilized soil than in non-sterilized one.