NEROLIC ACID NOMENCLATURE
 
Nerolic nomenclatural nightmare
 
Most bee catchers have been using lures with citral and geraniol.
A few select individuals (Scentry Inc., J.O. Schmidt & S.
Thoenes, J. Villa) have also added "nerolic" acid to lures based
upon research by Pickett and Free.  What we have called "nerolic"
acid is actually a 92% pure mixture of two isomers (roughly 2/3
geranic acid, and 1/3 nerolic acid).  It was synthesized by
Bedoukian Research Inc.((203) 792-8153), and is currently
available from them at a cost of $200/kg.  They will sell smaller
amounts at a proportional cost, but will add a $20 surcharge for
smaller amounts.  ICN also sells this product at a cost of
$175/100g (yes, roughly ten-fold difference), as "geranic acid"
(catalogue # 30711).  Combining all three compounds (citral,
geraniol, geranic/nerolic acid) in equal amounts produces a
mixture costing roughly 18 cents per ml.  You can therefore
produce "lures" of 0.1 ml in thin-walled polyethylene 0.4 ml
Eppendorf tubes (cost of about 6 cents a tube) for about a dime
each.  Happy trapping.
 
Jose Villa