Sex pheromone for the brownbanded cockroach is an unusual dialkyl-substituted alpha-pyrone.
Female brownbanded cockroaches, Supella longipalpa, emit a sex pheromone that attracts males from a distance. This pheromone was isolated and identified as 5-(2,4-dimethylheptanyl)-3-methyl-2H-pyran-2-one (which we refer to as supellapyrone), and its structure was confirmed by synthesis. A racemic blend of the synthetic compound elicited behavioral and electrophysiological responses comparable to the natural pheromone across a range of doses. This compound is not only a very different type of cockroach pheromone but also makes up an additional class of natural products--namely, 3,5-dialkyl-substituted alpha-pyrones.
Charlton
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Department of Entomology, New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Cornell University, Geneva, NY 14456, USA.
Webster
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Zhang
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Schal
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Liang
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Sreng
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Roelofs
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