The olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae, has a peculiar sexual chemoecology, guided by both male- and female-borne olfactory cues, mostly produced in rectal glands. Despite the research on B. oleae female pheromones has a long history, only few components (mainly 1,7-dioxaspiro[5.5]undecane) have been deeply investigated. Detailed evidences about the chemical identity and bioactivity of several others C10–C18 molecules produced in female rectal glands are lacking. We conducted GC and GC/EI–MS, identifying nine sex-specific chemicals and an additional compound [ethyl(Z)-9-octadecenoate], less abundant in females over males. Age-related production of all compounds raised over time. In 21-day-old females, it reached amounts from a minimum of 8.08 ng/fly (n-butyl dodecanoate) to a maximum of 87.19 ng/fly (ethyl hexadecanoate). In EAG experiments, all chemicals were perceived by both sexes. Methyl hexadecanoate and ethyl decanoate attracted males and females, respectively. This is the first report on a female-borne compound attracting conspecific females in Tephritidae. Our study sheds light on the bioactivity of female-borne pheromones involved in the B. oleae chemoecology. Further research is ongoing to test methyl hexadecanoate and ethyl decanoate as lures to enhance sex pheromone blends used in IPM programmes\ud against B. oleae, thus improving control tools against this key pest

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CuPd bimetallic solvated metal atoms (SMA) synthesized by metal vapor synthesis (MVS) technique and supported on poly-4-vinylpyridine (PVPy) resin, showed significantly higher catalytic activity in Sonogashira-type carbon-carbon coupling reactions than the corresponding monometallic Cu and Pd systems as well as their physical mixture. The analysis of the bimetallic catalyst combining transmission electron microscopy techniques and X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy revealed the presence of small Pd nanoparticles (d =2.5 nm) while the analysis of the X-ray absorption data, at the Cu K-edge suggests the formation of thin and incomplete Cu oxide layers around the Pd-rich cores.