Fascinating organic molecules from nature

Among the several ways of exploiting locally available plants in their day-to-day activities by primitive communities all over the world, catching fish for food was a major one. The plants used for this purpose included species of Derris and Lonchocarpus of the family Leguminosae (Fabaceae). The active principle, rotenone, is a pentacyclic isoflavanoid derivative. Several other closely related compounds are also known and these are together classified as rotenoids.