[1] Reaction with ethanol and potassium hydroxide yields pentachlorophenetole, indicating its high reactivity:[2] Although PCNB has a long shelflife, it is labile in soil, with a half life of 1.8 days.

It degrades to other metabolites, mainly reducing to pentachloroaniline (PCA), but also to pentachlorophenol (PCP) through hydrolysis and pentachlorothioanisole (PCTA).

[3][4] PCNB is used as a fungicide to suppress the growth of fungi in various crops, such as cotton, rice, and seed grains.

[7] In November 2011, the EPA approved certain registrations for PCNB, allowing it back on the market for golf course turf, potato, cotton, ornamental bulb and cole crop uses in the United States.

[8] PCNB is used widely as a fungicide in other countries, such as China and Japan,[5] however, "it is no longer approved for use within the European Union".