Ra. Flath et al., MALE LURES FOR MEDITERRANEAN FRUIT-FLY (CERATITIS-CAPITATA WIED) - STRUCTURAL ANALOGS OF ALPHA-COPAENE, Journal of chemical ecology, 20(10), 1994, pp. 2595-2609
Nine sesquiterpenes structurally related to the potent male Mediterran
ean fruit fly lure (+)-alpha-copaene were tested in a series of field
bioassays to determine their male medfly attractiveness relative to on
e another and to (+)-alpha-copaene itself. This study was carried out
to determine the relative importance of the various substructure compo
nents of the (+)-alpha-copaene molecule in eliciting an attractive res
ponse in the male fly. Tests indicated that any deviation from the thr
ee-dimensional structure of (+)-alpha-copaene leads to major losses in
male fly attractancy. The tested analogs fell into two groups, based
on their levels of attraction: (+)-alpha-ylangene, (+)-beta-copaene, (
+)-beta-ylangene, and (-)-alpha-copaene were found to be somewhat attr
active, although much less so than (+)-alpha-copaene, while (+)-cyclos
ativene, (+)-cyclocopacamphene, (+)-longicyclene, (+)-longipinene, and
(-)-trans-alpha-bergamotene were not attractive.