Pheromone synthesis. Part-209 : Synthesis of candidate structures for homosesquiterpene alcohols found as a putative sex pheromone from the sandfly Lutzomyia lichyi

Racemic and diastereomeric mixture of three homosesquiterpene alcohols 2, 3 and 4 were synthesized from a racemic and diastereomeric mixture of 3-methyl-alpha-himachalene (1) or from its synthetic precursor, 2-nor-ketonc (S). These alcohols 2. 3 and 4 exhibited mass spectra not identical with those reported for the homosesquiterpene alcohols found as a putative sex pheromone in the hexane extract of the male sandfly Lutzomyia lichyi.