Synthesis of a material with high juvenile hormone activity.

Abstract

In the absence of any purification, the neutral material formed in the reaction of crude or purified farnesoic acid with ethanolic hydrogen chloride is about 1000-fold more active in the polyphemus assay for juvenile hormone than is crude cecropia oil [from Hyalophora cecropia]. Moreover, the synthetic material shows a far wider spectrum of activity than the cecropia hormone. This easily available, synthetic material is therefore of interest to scientific studies of juvenile hormone and to the practical application of the hormone in the control of noxious insects.