Rotenone

Rotenone is an odorless, colorless, crystalline ketonic chemical compound used as a broad-spectrum insecticide, piscicide, and pesticide. It occurs naturally in the seeds and stems of several plants, such as the jicama vine plant, and the roots of several members of Fabaceae. It was the first described member of the family of chemical compounds known as rotenoids.

Discovery

The earliest record of the now-known rotenone-containing plants used for killing leaf-eating caterpillars was in 1848, and for centuries, the same plants were used to poison fish. The active chemical component was first isolated in 1895 by a French botanist, Emmanuel Geoffroy, who called it nicouline, from a specimen of Robinia nicou, now called Lonchocarpus nicou, while traveling in French Guiana. He wrote about this research in his thesis, published posthumously in 1895 after his death from a parasitic disease. In 1902 Japanese chemist Nagai Nagayoshi isolated a pure crystalline compound from Derris elliptica which he called rotenone, after the Japanese name of the plant, roten. By 1930, nicouline and rotenone were established to be chemically the same.