Metabolites of Lesser Grain Borer in Grains

Many volatile alcohol and ester metabolites of the lesser grain borer (LGB, Rhyzopertha dominica) cultured on wheat grain were identified. Volatiles from infested samples at 80 degrees C were collected on Tenax absorbent, thermally desorbed, and analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) using infrared (IR) and mass (MS) detectors for component identification. A solid-phase microextraction (SPME) technique was used to analyze selected samples with a GC-MS system set up for obtaining chemical ionization mass spectra. SPME was also used in a synthesis process required to identify ester metabolites. Predominant compounds in LGB-infested grains were 2-pentanol and its esters of 2-methyl-2-pentenoic (A) and 2,4-dimethyl-2-pentenoic (B) acids, which are known aggregation pheromones, dominicalures 1 and 2. 2-Pentanol esters of saturated A, beta-keto- and beta-hydroxy derivatives of A and B, homologues of A and B, and acid moieties lacking the 2-methyl substitution were found. Other straight- and branched-chain secondary alcohols and their esters were also observed. Reexamination of GC-MS-IR data acquired in previous investigations of LGB cultured on sorghum grain and commercial samples in a grain odor study showed the presence of many LGB metabolites in addition to the known dominicalures.