Chemical and behavioral analyses of volatile sex pheromone components released by callingHeliothis virescens (F.) females (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Gas chromatographic and mass spectral analyses were conducted on pheromone gland extracts, volatiles collected from excised pheromone glands, and volatiles collected from calling females. In addition to tetradecanal, (Z)-9-tetradecenal, hexadecanal, (Z)-7-hexadecenal, (Z)-9-hexadecenal, and (Z)-11-hexadecenal, four other compounds, tetradecanol, (Z)-9-tetradecenol, hexadecanol, and (Z)-11-hexadecenol, were also identified from gland extracts. Only the six aldehyde components were found in gland and female volatile collections. The mean percentage of components identified from volatiles collected from calling females was 13.0% tetradecanal, 18.1% (Z)-9-tetradecenal, 7.3% hexadecanal, 0.6% (Z)-7-hexadecenal, 1.0% (Z)-9-hexadecenal, and 60.0% (Z)-11-hexadecenal. Bioassays using rubber septa formulated to release the female volatile blend indicated that all six aldehyde components play major roles in close-range male reproductive behavior. Deletion of (Z)-9-hexadecenal from the six-component blend reduced the number of copulation attempts while (Z)-7-hexadecenal exerted subtle effects on all close range behaviors. Tetradecanal affected the number of times males reorient from close range. Deletion of hexadecanal from the six-component blend resulted in a significant reduction in the number of times males landed. Comparison of the six-component synthetic blend (released at somewhat less than 1 female equivalent per hour) with calling females indicated that the six-component blend was indistinguishable from the females in inducing all of the behaviors monitored.

Field tests of syntheticManduca sexta sex pheromone

In field experiments traps were baited with live females or with a two-, four-, or eight-component blend of the 16-carbon aldehydes previously identified as components of the sex pheromone emitted by femaleManduca sexta moths. The blends were formulated on rubber septa. Traps baited with a blend of all eight aldehydes captured moreM. sexta males than any other treatment. Septa loaded with 600 μg of the eight-component blend were attractive to males for about seven days in the field. Septa loaded with the eight-component blend and stored in a refrigerator at 4°C for a year released the conjugated diene and triene aldehydes at the same rate as freshly prepared septa and were equally attractive in the field.

Determination of the minimum allowable operating temperature of stationary phases in capillary columns by inverse gas chromatography

A method was developed to determine the minimum allowable operating temperature (MiAOT) of wall coated open tubular capillary columns. Two polyethylene glycol and fourteen polysiloxanes phases with different side groups (methyl, phenyl, cyanopropyl, trifluoropropyl, n-octyl) and backbone stiffening units (tetramethyl-p-silphenylene, tetramethyl-p,p'-sildiphenylene ether, carborane) were investigated by inverse gas chromatography. A sigmoidal profile of temperature versus column efficiency was found for almost all phases, as the column efficiency increased with temperature. The MiAOT was defined as that temperature where the column efficiency is half of its original value at elevated temperatures. It was found that the MiAOT of a stationary phase is approx. 60 K higher than its glass transition temperature.