A recent report that the aliphatic dicarboxylic acid, azelaic acid (1, 9-nonanedioic acid) but not related acids, suberic acid (1, 8-octanedioic acid) or sebacic (1, 10-decanedioic acid) acid induces systemic acquired resistance to invading pathogens in plants stimulated the development of a rapid method for labeling these dicarboxylic acids with 11C and 14C for in vivo mechanistic studies in whole plants. 11C-labeling was performed by reaction of ...