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Article: Researchers produce synthetic version of mosquito deterrent.
- Article from:
- Biotech Week
- Article date:
- October 13, 2004
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2004 OCT 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Mosquito bites are more than just annoying - in tropical regions they can be deadly because these little pests spread tropical diseases such as malaria and yellow fever.
Recently a compound that is thought to serve as a landing and feeding deterrent for the yellow-fever-spreading Aedes mosquito was discovered in the secretions of the gaur, an Asian wild ox. By using a new synthetic strategy, an American team has succeeded in producing this natural substance, called gaur acid, in the laboratory, thereby also confirming its exact spatial structure.
The basic structure of gaur acid was previously known: The central ...