Endrin

Endrin is a cyclodiene insecticide used on cotton, maize, and rice. It also acts as an avicide. As a rodenticide, it is used to control mice and voles. It is a solid, cream to light tan to white, almost odorless substance. It melts and decomposes at 200 °C. It is moderately soluble in benzene and acetone, slightly soluble in alcohols, alkanes, and xylene, and almost insoluble in water. It is also known as Mendrin, and Compound 269.

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The use of endrin is now banned in many countries.

The majority of use (about 80%) was as a spray to control insect pests of cotton. It was also used on rice, to some extent on sugar cane, in a limited way on grain crops and sugar beets, and in Australia on tobacco and cole crops. It was occasionally used in orchards as a control of rodents, where it is sprayed on the ground under the trees in autumn or spring, often as a solution in mineral oil. As a seed treatment, it was used for cotton seed in the United States, and for beans seeds in Australia.

Endrin is a stereoisomer of dieldrin and is structurally similar to aldrin, and heptachlor epoxide.

Its CAS number is [72-20-8] and its SMILES structure is ClC1(Cl)C2(Cl) [C@@](C4C5C(O5) C3C4)([H])[C@]3 ([H])C(Cl) 1C(Cl)=C2Cl.

It is likely to adsorb onto the sediments in surface water. It can bioaccumulate in tissues, particularly fatty tissues, of organisms living in water. Some estimates indicate its half-life in soil for over 10 years. It is very toxic to aquatic organisms, namely fish, aquatic invertebrates, and phytoplankton. [1]

Acute endrin poisoning in humans affects primarily the nerve system. Food contaminated with endrin caused several clusters of poisonings worldwide, especially affecting children. [2]

In comparison with dieldrin, the degree of persistence of endrin in organisms is lower, likely due to its rapid excretion in bile. It is eliminated mostly in feces. [3]

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