ISOLATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF HOUSE-FLY, MUSCA-DOMESTICA L, REPELLENTS FROM PEPPER TREE, SCHINUS-MOLLE L

Foliage from the pepper tree, Schinus molle L., is traditionally used in Ethiopia to ''repel'' house flies, Musca domestica L. The volatile extracts of pepper tree leaves were shown to have repellent and feedin g-deterrent activity against house flies in a two-choice laboratory bi oassay. Highperformance liquid chromatographic fractionation of steam- distilled volatiles from leaves, monitored by laboratory bioassays, de monstrated that bioactivity is associated with two compounds, cis-ment h-2-en-1-ol and trans-piperitol. The absolute configuration of the lat ter was established as (1S,6S)-piperitol by comparison of acetyl lacta te derivatives. Racemic compounds were synthesized from piperitone, an d bioassays with house flies indicated trans-piperitol to be the most active house fly repellent.