Miklós TÓTH-a, Erik J. van NIEUKERKEN-b,
Gábor SZÖCS-a, Peter PHILIPP-c, Frank
SCHMIDT-c, Wittko FRANCKE-c
a- Plant Protection Institute, Hungarian Academy of Sciences,
Budapest, Pf. 102., H-1525, Hungary
b- National Museum of Natural History, P.O.B. 9517, 2300 RA Leiden,
The Netherlands
c- Institut für Organische Chemie der Universitat Hamburg,
Martin-Luther-King-Platz 6, D-20146 Hamburg, Germany
Recently short-chain mono- or diunsaturated methyl carbinols have been identified from female sex pheromones of two moth species belonging to the families Eriocraniidae and Nepticulidae-1,2. Since the chemical structures proved to be novel as far as lepidopteran sex pheromone components were concerned, the present study was undertaken to monitor the frequency of occurrence of such compounds in sex attractants among the diverse taxonomic groups of Lepidoptera.
Baits with candidate compounds were screened in field trapping tests which were conducted continuously during the spring and summer months at several biotops in Hungary and the Netherlands. Compounds tested included (S)- and (R)-(Z)-4-hepten-2-ol, (S)- and (R)-(Z)-6-nonen-2-ol, the corresponding ketones (Z)-4-hepten-2-one, (Z)-6-nonen-2-one and the dienic (S)- and (R)-(Z)-6,8-nonadien-2-ol.
In the tests exclusively spp. belonging to the families Nepticulidae and Eriocraniidae were captured, as follows:
Chirality of the compounds was of great importance from the viewpoint of attractive activity. The results suggest that secondary alcohols as sex attractant and pheromone components occur exclusively in monotrysian taxa of the order Lepitoptera.
Literature