Document Type : Pest Management
Authors
Abstract
Date palm fruit stalk borer, Oryctes elegans prell. (Col.: Scarabaeidae) is one of the most important pests of palm trees in Iran and Asia. 4-methylOctanoic acid has been identified as the essential component of the male aggregation pheromone of O.elegans.Synthesis of 4-methylOctanoic acid has been performed in 4 steps at chemical laboratory of Iranian research institute of plant protection. In the 1st step addition reaction of leuvinic acid and bromo butane afforded 4-Hyydroxyoctanoic acid. In the 2nd step chloride is replaced with hydroxyl group by the addition of ethanol-chloride and thionyl chloride to give 4-chloro 4-methylOctanoic acid. In the next step by heating the resulting compound it produced unsaturated alkene bond of 4-methyl 3-Octenoic acid. To saturate alkene bond, hydrogenation with platinum oxide as catalyst has been done. Final compound resulted after vacuum distillation and column chromatography, 69 gram pure racemic mixture of 4-methyloctanoic acid in total efficiency of 48%. This method of synthesis is easy and reproducible in any chemical laboratory.Field test in date palm groves of Saravan region established and concluded that there is no significance difference between synthesized pheromone and imported one. Hence this pheromone can be prepared in Iran because of low cost of preparation and enhance availability and use in mass trapping programs to reduce population.
Keywords
)