Editing Rotenone (section)

== Discovery ==

The earliest written record of the now-known rotenone-containing plants used for killing leaf-eating [[caterpillars]] was in 1848; for centuries, these same plants had been used to [[piscicide|poison fish]].<ref name="Metcalf">{{cite book |title=The Mode of Action of Organic Insecticides |publisher=National Research Council, Washington DC |year=1948 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PmcrAAAAYAAJ&q=rotenone+isolated&pg=PA29 |author=Metcalf, R. L.}}</ref> 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 ''[[Deguelia utilis]]'', while traveling in [[French Guiana]].<ref>{{cite journal| last1=Ambrose | first1=Anthony M. |author2=Harvey B. Haag | year=1936 | title=Toxicological study of ''Derris'' | journal=Industrial & Engineering Chemistry | volume=28 | issue=7 | pages=815–821 | doi=10.1021/ie50319a017}}</ref> He wrote about this research in his thesis, published in 1895 after his death from a [[parasitic disease]].<ref>{{cite web| title=Useful tropical plants | publisher=ASNOM | url=http://www.asnom.org/en/730_plantes_tropicales_utiles.html | date=2008-01-02 | access-date=2008-03-16}}</ref> In 1902 [[Kazuo Nagai]], Japanese [[chemical engineer]] of the [[Government-General of Taiwan]], isolated a pure crystalline compound from ''[[Derris elliptica]]'' which he called rotenone, after the Taiwanese name of the plant 蘆藤 ({{Langx|nan|lôo-tîn}}) translated into Japanese {{Nihongo|2=ローテン|3=rōten}}.<ref name="Nagai1902">{{cite journal
 | author = Nagai, Kazuo
 | title = 魚籘有毒成分の研究 第一報 [First report of research on toxic ingredients in fish rattan]
 | journal = 東京化學會誌 [Tokyo Kagaku Kaishi = Tokyo Chemical Society Journal]
 | volume = 23
 | number = 7
 | pages = 744–777
 | doi = 10.1246/nikkashi1880.23.744
 | doi-access = free
 | year = 1902
 | language = ja
}}</ref> By 1930, nicouline and rotenone were established to be chemically the same.<ref>{{cite journal |year=1933 |title=The Determination of the structure of rotenone |journal=Chemical Reviews |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=181–213 |doi=10.1021/cr60042a001| vauthors=La Forge FB, Haller HL, Smith LE}}</ref>