The asymmetric synthesis of (S)-and (R)-stigmolone [(S)-and (R)-1], an aggregation pheromone of the myxobacterium Stigmatella aurantiaca, starting from 4-methylpentan-2-one is described. The stereogenic centre at the C-5 position of the pheromone was generated via the SAMP/RAMP hydrazone method with high enantiomeric purity. It could be shown again that both enantiomers induce the fruiting body formation of the myxobacterium at concentrations of 1.0-30.0 nM.Myxobacteria like Stigmatella aurantiaca are Gram-negative, sticklike soil bacteria, which live in swarms on insoluble polymer surfaces like rotten wood. Gliding in a swarm has an immense profit for the food intake. This is due to an increase in the local density of secreted hydrolytic enzymes and therefore the amount of available soluble nutrients. The swarm and also the secreted slime serves as a carpet which prevents the loss of enzymes and nutrients. Typically for myxobacteria, S. aurantiaca exists in two different life cycles. In the vegetative growth cycle the population rises like normal bacteria through cell division, but under conditions of starvation the bacteria form multicellular fruiting bodies. 1, 2 These fruiting bodies have a treelike structure and contain the myxospores, which are dormant cells. The change from the vegetative growth to the so-called development cycle is induced by the aggregation pheromone 8-hydroxy-2,5,8-trimethylnonan-4-one, which is named stigmolone after its biological origin and structure according to Plaga et al. Furthermore, this group published the first isolation 3, 4 as well as a synthesis 5 of the racemate of this pheromone.The natural product was isolated in racemic form perhaps due to the extensive isolation and purification procedures and the sensitivity of a-substituted ketones to racemisation. Plaga et al. also discovered an active concentration of 1.0 nM for the fruiting body formation, which makes this pheromone one of the most effective, non-peptidic bacterial pheromones known. 4 Mori et al. reported an 'exchiral-pool' synthesis starting either with (R)-or (S)-citronellol shortly after the first publication of stigmolone. 6, 7 The bioassay of the enantiomers showed the same active concentration for the fruiting body formation as for the racemate and therefore the natural product seemed to be an enantiomeric mixture. 8 For further biological tests Mori et al. developed a new and short synthesis of the racemic pheromone. 9 We now want to present the first asymmetric synthesis of (S)-and (R)-stigmolone [(S)-and (R)-1] and describe the results for the bioassays, which were carried out by Plaga.The target molecule contains one stereogenic centre resulting from the methyl branching at the C-5 position a to the carbonyl group. Therefore, the RAMP/SAMP hydrazone method 10 was chosen to generate both enantiomers of the pheromone based on either enantiomer of the chiral auxiliary. As shown in the Scheme, 4-methylpentan-2-one (2) was treated with (R)-1-amino-2-(methoxymethyl)pyrrolidine (RAMP), both commercially availa...