Pheromones
In collaboration with the Gries lab (Biological Sciences, SFU), we have reported the isolation, synthesis and field testing of a number of insect pheromones. This includes pheromones from ecologically and economically relevant bugs including the pistachio twig borer moth, bald-faced hornets, and bed bugs. This research has ultimately led to the development of Ortho® Home Defense Max®, a cost-effective lure and trap for early detection of bedbugs.
Highlighted Works:
Kang, B. et al. 'A General Method for the Synthesis of Nonracemic trans-Epoxides: Concise Syntheses of trans-Epoxide-Containing Insect Sex Pheromones' Org. Lett., 2007
Britton, R. et al. 'A chromatography-free synthesis of (2S,12Z)-2-acetoxy-12-heptadecene - The major sex pheromone component of the pistachio twig borer moth (Kermania pistaciella)' Can. J. Chem., 2009
Mowat, J. 'Scalable Synthesis of the Pink Gypsy Moth Lymantria mathura Sex Pheromone (-)-Mathuralure' Can. J. Chem., 2009
Gries, R. et al. 'Bed Bug Aggregation Pheromone Finally Identified' Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2015
Zhai, H. et al. 'Total Synthesis, Stereochemical Assignment, and Field-Testing of the Sex Pheromone of the Strepsipteran Xenos peckii' Chem. Eur. J., 2016
Ren, W. et al. 'Maculatic Acids - Sex Attractant Pheromone Components of Bald-Face Hornets' Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2018
Ren, W. et al. 'Isolation, Structure Elucidation, and Total Synthesis of Dolichovespulide, a Sesquiterpene from Dolichovespula Yellowjackets' J. Nat. Prod., 2019