In recent articles in Accounts of Chemical Research (DOI: 10.1021/acs.accounts.7b00311) and BOMCL (DOI: 10.1016/j.bmcl.2016.11.042), former Wardrop group member and DuPont Crop Protection researcher, Dr. Wenming Zhang gives an inside view of the development of the mesoionic pesticides dicloromezotiaz and triflumezopyrim, from initial discovery by high throughput screening to the commercial launch of Pexalon. During his time at UIC, Wenming worked on the preparation of spiroketal glycosides and the synthesis of the alkaloid FR901483.