Juvenile Hormone Activity of Juvabione Analogues against Pyrrhocoris apterus (Hemiptera: Pyrrhocoridae)

Abstract

Previously, (+)-juvabione (4R, 1’R) (1) was isolated from the wood of North American native balsam fir, Abies balsamea (L.) Mill., As the so-called “paper factor” exhibiting juvenile hormone (JH) activity on the hemipteran bug, Pyrrhocoris apterus (L.) (Bowers Et al., 1966). Since then, the natural occurrence of juvabione-related compounds was examined in the wood of a number of coniferous species (Numata Et al., 1990). On the other hand, the tetrahydrofuranoid lignan, sesamolin (2), from Sesamum indicum L. was reported to have JH activity on the milkweed bug, Oncopeltus fasciatus (Dallas) (Bowers, 1968). Recently, we isolated and identified a variety of juvabione analogues, as well as two lignans from the wood of Abies sachalinensis Mast. (Numata Et al., 1992). We report herein JH activities of these components against P. apterus and give some comments on their structure-activity relationship. © 1993, JAPANESE SOCIETY OF APPLIED ENTOMOLOGY AND ZOOLOGY. All rights reserved.