Many lepidopteran pheromones consist of blends of monounsaturated alcohols, aldehydes and acetates. These compounds frequently are obtained in only nanogram quantities from pheromone gland extracts, prohibiting use of most standard spectroscopic methods. However, use of GC retention indexes, particularly in combination with mass spectrometry and electroantennograms, can provide substantial information about trace amounts of unknowns. Comparison of Kováts indexes (KIs) of an unknown with those of standards can provide an unambiguous identification, or at least, limit the number of possible structures to a few compounds. Furthermore, because KIs are highly reproducible, a full set of standards is not necessary; comparisons can be made using tables of KIs determined in another laboratory. We provide here tables of the KIs of almost all possible isomers of monounsaturated alcohols, aldehydes, and acetates with 12, 14, or 16 carbon chain lengths, measured on nonpolar (DB-5) and polar (DB-WAX) stationary phases.
Kováts retention index; pheromone; Lepidoptera
