Posted on 10/11/2019 3:24:15 PM PDT by BenLurkin
In continuing to explore the crystal structure of insecticides, the research team began studying fluorinated forms of DDT, swapping out chlorine atoms for fluorine. They prepared two solid forms of the compound—a monofluoro and a difluoro analog—and tested them on fruit flies and mosquitoes, including mosquito species that carry malaria, yellow fever, Dengue, and Zika. The solid forms of fluorinated DDT killed insects more quickly than did DDT; the difluoro analog, known as DFDT, killed mosquitoes two to four times faster.
The researchers also made a detailed analysis of the relative activities of the solid-state forms of fluorinated DDT, noting that less thermodynamically stable forms—in which the crystals liberate molecules more easily—were more effective at quickly killing insects.
In the post-war chaos, however, DFDT manufacturing came to an abrupt end. Allied military officials who interviewed Third Reich scientists dismissed the Germans' claims that DFDT was faster and less toxic to mammals than DDT, calling their studies "meager" and "inadequate" in military intelligence reports.
In his 1948 Nobel Prize address for the discovery of the insect-killing capability of DDT, Paul Müller noted that DFDT should be the insecticide of the future, given that it works more quickly than does DDT. Despite this, DFDT has largely been forgotten and was unknown to contemporary entomologists with whom the NYU researchers consulted.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
OMG! Rachel Carson is rolling over in her grave.
Poetry in motion.
Just another thing for politicians to ban.
On top of that, just like in people, the dead mosquitoes have few cavities!
I am so paranoid about bedbugs I don’t even like to travel anymore
Bring back something that will kill them
Blinded by Science.
When we travel, before anyone or any luggage enters a hotel room, my wife takes a flashlight and carefully examines all of the critical areas in the room that are flags for bedbug presence.
DDT did a trick on me
Now I am a real sicky.....
Did you tell ‘em you got no cerebellum?
I booked my free (sort of) cruise from Caesars. I have a lot of free luggage that were casino gifts. I am throwing away everything I take except for clothes that will immediately be bagged and put in washer ..and essentials
I hope I don’t bring any bed bugs home.
I will probably even take clothes I don’t mind throwing away
Huh? You can eat DDT by the spoonful and be fine.
But you’re still going to get your PHD, right?
BRING BACK DFDT!
We’re going to need something to spray the Everglades and the Louisiana swamps after the mosquitoes there once again become carriers of malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, etc.
— once wiped out, but soon to be reintroduced with the arrival of illegal immigrant carriers from Central America...
You have to admit that postwar the Germans didn’t have the best reputation for insecticide use.
Original DDT is perfectly safe, but the envirowackos refuse to admit Rachel Carson was peddling junk science. They’ve caused millions of malaria deaths.
Might as well check for “stains” with a black light, too.
In for a penny....
And all the girls are in love with me.
I’ll keep that in mind next time German insects come around.
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