Asymmetric synthesis of the sex pheromone of the apple leafminer, Lyonetia prunifoliella.

Lyonetia prunifoliella is a significant pest in orchards and damages apple. The sex pheromones of this pest were prepared via a new and concise method. The central to our method were Evans' chiral auxiliaries, the addition of chiral Grignard reagent to aldehyde and Wittig coupling.