Borg-Karlson, A-K; Unelius, CR; Valterova, I; Nilsson, LA

    Department of Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Royal Institute of
    Technology, S-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden

    PHYTOCHEMISTRY, vol. 41, no. 6, pp. 1477-1483, 1996

    The floral fragrance of the shrub Daphne mezereum in central
    Sweden was collected by means of the head-space technique and
    investigated by GC-MS and multi-dimensional GC. (S)-(+)-Linalool
    was the main constituent (95%) of the flower fragrance and its
    enantiomeric purity exceeded 99% in the samples. The (2S, 5S)- and
    (2R, 5S)-furanoid and the (3R, 6S)- and (3S, 6S)-pyranoid linalool
    oxide isomers constituted 2-5% of the fragrance. The elution order
    of these compounds on a permethylated beta -cyclodextrin column is
    reported. A fragrance sample of D. mezereum as well as
    (S)-(+)-linalool attracted males of the vernal solitary bee
    species Colletes cunicularius and Andrena cinerea. A racemic
    mixture of the two enantiomeric pairs of known furanoid linalool
    oxides was only weakly attractive to the bees. The role of the
    fragnance in the pollination specialization of the plant is
    discussed.