Efficient method to locate double bond positions in conjugated trienes

The double bond positions of 11 conjugated trienes were unambiguously located through a simple derivatization method amenable to nanogram-scale analyses. The trienes were reacted with the powerful dienophile 4-methyl-1,2,4-triazoline-3,5-dione (MTAD), and the mass spectra of the resulting cycloadducts exhibited large diagnostic fragments which allowed the unequivocal location of the double bonds in the parent triene in most cases. Catalytic hydrogenation of the cycloadducts produced saturated compounds with characteristic mass spectral fragments from which the positions of the trienes in the parent compounds could be readily confirmed. Application of the method was demonstrated by the microscale identification of two conjugated triene and one conjugated diene components from extracts of the sex pheromone gland of the saturniid moth Automeris cecrops pamina.