An improved synthesis of the sex pheromone of sugarcane borer, Sesamia cretic, as an intermediate of Zeuzera pyrina pheromone using a safe and economically efficient method

In recent years, usage of sex pheromones as a replacement for pesticides against harmful insects has gained great interest due to their important ecological advantages like high specificity, biodegradability and low toxicity. The stem borer, Sesamia cretica Lederer (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae, Amphipyrinae), is one of the main insect pests of sorghum, maize, sugarcane, and cereal crops in the Mediterranean area. The components of sex pheromone of this insect was identified as consisting of (Z)-9-tetradecen-1-ol (80%), (Z)-9-tetradecen-1-yl acetate (10%), and (Z)-11-hexadecen-1-ol (10%). The previous reports for the synthesis of these compounds suffer from several problems such as difficult procedure, harmful solvents and low overall yields. in this research an efficient strategy for the synthesis of the main component of this pheromone is described from safe and readily available starting materials.