MALE LURES FOR MEDITERRANEAN FRUIT-FLY (CERATITIS-CAPITATA WIED) - STRUCTURAL ANALOGS OF ALPHA-COPAENE

Nine sesquiterpenes structurally related to the potent male Mediterranean fruit fly lure (+)-alpha-copaene were tested in a series of field bioassays to determine their male medfly attractiveness relative to one another and to (+)-alpha-copaene itself. This study was carried out to determine the relative importance of the various substructure components of the (+)-alpha-copaene molecule in eliciting an attractive response in the male fly. Tests indicated that any deviation from the three-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 attractive, although much less so than (+)-alpha-copaene, while (+)-cyclosativene, (+)-cyclocopacamphene, (+)-longicyclene, (+)-longipinene, and (-)-trans-alpha-bergamotene were not attractive.