Document Type

Dissertation

Date of Award

1977

Keywords

Pheromones, Insect sex attractants

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Chemistry

First Advisor

Philip J. Kocienski

Second Advisor

Bruce E. Norcross

Third Advisor

Julian Shepherd

Abstract

Specifically, our goal was the preparation of sex pheromones whose demand by field workers was well documented. The efforts that comprised this thesis were directed towards the synthesis of these insect sex pheromones. The first, the sex pheromone of the Douglas Fir Tussock Moth Orgyia pseudotsugata, was prepared with the hope that appropriately situated lures containing the pheromone could be employed to control the defoliation of fir forests in western North America. The second pheromone, the sex pheromone of the smaller European dried bean beetle, Acanthoscelides obtectus (Say), was rare in insect pheromone chemistry in that it was produced by the male of the species (vide supra), and unique in that it was the first known naturally occurring allenic sex pheromone. The third, and final system investigated was one of the components of the aggregation sex pheromone of the European Elm bark beetle, Scolytus Multistriatus (Marsham), the latter of which is the principal vector of Dutch Elm disease in the northeast United States. Similarly, appropriately baited lures containing this pheromone and its other constituents could enable control of this insect pest on a large scale.

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