Abstract: | The synthesis has been effected of octa-2E,6E-diene-1,8-diol diisovalerate — the sex pheromone of the Crimean click beetleAgriotes tauricus — by the carboxymethylenation of the readily available 6-methylhept-5-en-2-one, the allyl oxidation of a terminal methyl group, reduction of the ester fraction, and interaction of the diol so obtained with isovaleryl chloride. The required pheromone can also be obtained from available cyclic oligomers of isoprene. |