Lepidopterous Sex Attractants with a Conjugated Diene System

Each of fifty-one conjugated dienes (alcohols, acetates and aldehydes) with a C₁₂, C₁₄ or C₁₆ straight chain was applied to a rubber cap in a sticky-type trap as a single-component lure. Some diene compounds were mixed with their functional derivatives or structurally related monoenes to make two-component lures. In field trials conducted from 1984 to 1986, the new attraction of male moths of nineteen species was observed. These species were classified into nine families as follow: Gracillariidae, Yponomeutidae, Oecophoridae, Cosmopterigidae, Tortricidae (Olethreuti- nae and Tortricinae), Pyralidae, Pterophoridae, Drepanidae and Geometridae. This result indicates that the conjugated dienes are one of the main groups of lepidopterous sex pheromones. Some interesting information concerned with the taxonomy of the attracted moths and with the characteristics of the chemical structures of their attractants was obtained.