Some fluorine‐containing pheromone analogues

Abstract

Abstract Two analogues of the aphid alarm pheromone ( E )‐β‐farnesene, a trifluorofarnesene and a difluoro‐1‐norfarnesene, were found to be highly active and were more readily detectable than the parent compound. For ( Z )‐hexadec‐11‐enal, a component of some lepidopteran sex attractant pheromones, replacement of the carbonyl oxygen with a difluoromethyl group to give a difluoroheptadecadiene resulted in loss of activity. A trifluoroacetoxyhexadecanolide was a more volatile analogue of the mosquito oviposition pheromone (−)‐(5 R ,6 S )‐6‐acetoxy‐5‐hexadecanolide and was highly active.