Eight of 44 selected analogs of veratrole showed promise as attractants for male, oriental fruit fly, Dacus dorsalis Hendel, in week-long field tests when compared with a standard methyl eugenol (ME) lure. 4-Propyl- and 4(and 5)-allyl-2-ethoxy-1-methoxybenzene were the most effective of the eight promising lures showing high levels of initial and persistent attraction. 4-Ethyl-2-ethoxy-1-methoxybenzene showed a high level of initial attraction but lacked persistence as did its corresponding dimethoxy analog. High levels of attractancy demonstrated by several analogs evaluated in this study suggest that they could serve as potential alternatives to ME, if a critical need arises and their toxicity is acceptable. Despite previous studies showing that 889 chemicals were attractive to D. dorsalis in olfactometer tests, only three of the chemicals showed promise in the field.
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DeMilo et al. (1994) studied this question.