Über den Sexual-Lockstoff des Seidenspinners Bombyx mori
TL;DR
500,000 moths yielded 6.4 mg of bombykol—the first pheromone isolated, with one isomer a billion times more active than the others.
Speed Read
0%
300 WPM
-- remaining
Landmark paper establishing that invisible chemical signals can be isolated, characterized, and synthesized. Demonstrated the extreme precision required for signal-receptor matching (one isomer billion times more active). Opened the entire field of chemical ecology and pheromone-based pest management. Butenandt had won the 1939 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; this work applied similar rigor to chemical communication. Central to the book's exploration of how biological signaling economics apply to market signal detection and competitive intelligence.
Key Findings from Butenandt et al. (1959)
- Isolated bombykol from 500,000 female moths over 20 years of research
- Yield: 6.4 mg pure compound—12.8 nanograms per moth
- Detection threshold: 10⁻¹² micrograms per mL triggers response in 50% of males
- One molecular isomer was 1 billion times more active than the other three configurations
- A single bombykol molecule sufficient to activate olfactory receptor neurons
- First pheromone ever isolated and chemically characterized