Sex pheromone of the tsetse species, Glossina austeni: isolation and identification of natural hydrocarbons, and bioassay of synthesized compounds

Abstract.  Copulatory responses of male Glossina austeni (Newstead) (Diptera: Glossinidae), that were elicited after contact with frozen female tsetse, were not observed after solvent washing of cuticular lipids. Chromatographic analysis of extracts from laboratory‐reared and field‐collected G. austeni females yielded natural hydrocarbons that were highly stimulatory to males. Most of this activity was produced by compounds in the alkene fraction. Gas chromatograms (GC) contained five natural alkenes; these were separated by preparative GC for bioassays conducted in Tanzania. The two major alkenes were identified using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) to be 13,17‐dimethyltritriacont‐1‐ene and 13,17‐dimethylpentatriacont‐1‐ene, after the samples had undergone derivatization using dimethyl disulphide and saturation with deuterium. These alkenes and natural alkanes were quantified from G. austeni of both sexes from laboratory and field samples to confirm that their presence was consistent in this species. Trials of synthetic samples resulted in the order of biological activity for the stereoisomers of 13,17‐dimethyltritriacont‐1‐ene as follows: S,R‐33:1 > R,S‐ 33:1 > S,S‐33:1 > R,R‐33:1. Dose–response data showed an ED50 at 5 µg per treated, solvent‐washed male decoy. Of the four stereoisomers of 13,17‐dimethylpentatriacont‐1‐ene, R,R‐35:1 showed the most activity. This is the first report of alkene‐induced sexual activity in males of the genus Glossina.