For a principal ideal domain $A$, the Latimer–MacDuffee correspondence sets up a bijection between the similarity classes of matrices in $\textrm{M}_{n}(A)$ with irreducible characteristic polynomial $f(x)$ and the ideal classes of the order $A[x]/(f(x))$. We prove that when $A[x]/(f(x))$ is maximal (i.e. integrally closed, i.e. a Dedekind domain), then every similarity class contains a representative that is, in a sense, close to being a companion matrix. The first step in the proof is to show that any similarity class corresponding to an ideal (not necessarily prime) of degree one contains a representative of the desired form. The second step is a previously unpublished result due to Lenstra that implies that when $A[x]/(f(x))$ is maximal, every ideal class contains an ideal of degree one.

In an earlier paper (see Proc. London Math. Soc. (3) 84 (2002) 257–288) we showed that an irreducible integral binary cubic form $f(x, y)$ attains infinitely many prime values, providing that it has no fixed prime divisor. We now extend this result by showing that $f(m, n)$ still attains infinitely many prime values if $m$ and $n$ are restricted by arbitrary congruence conditions, providing that there is still no fixed prime divisor.

Two immediate consequences for the solvability of diagonal cubic Diophantine equations are given.