Michael Elliott's billion dollar crystals and other discoveries in insecticide chemistry

The crowning achievement for Michael Elliott came in 1973 when his most outstanding candidate insecticide from 25 years of research crystallized from hexane solution. The stereochemically pure crystalline compound was the most potent synthetic insecticide ever made until that time, and it was highly selective for insects compared with mammals. It was given the name deltamethrin. Sequential stereospecific crystallization to isolate the most potent epimer and base‐catalyzed racemization of the remaining less active isomer could be used to produce deltamethrin efficiently on a large scale; it became the billion dollar crystals. Elliott's discoveries at Rothamsted in England with Norman Janes and David Pulman of resmethrin, permethrin, cypermethrin and ultimately deltamethrin provided crop protection and malaria control for millions of people. Michael also laid the background for lipophilic amide, dithiane and other insecticides and nerve probes that are not involved in pyrethroid cross‐resistance. Some aspects of these investigations were best conducted at Berkeley, where Michael studied pyrethrins in 1969, synthetic pyrethroids in 1974 and alternative insecticides in 1986–1988. This review considers Michael's seminal discoveries in insecticide chemistry, with emphasis on his Berkeley years. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry