2012 Annual Report 1a.Objectives (from AD-416): The objective of this project is to discover the structure and synthesize the pheromone of one the most important pest insects, the brown marmorated stink bug. This invasive species was first found in the U.S. in 2002, and has recently become a major agricultural and nuisance pest. Availability of a synthetic pheromone will help immensely in developing IPM strategies for this bug. 1b.Approach (from AD-416): IIBBL will identify sex-specific compounds from the brown marmorated stink bug that could serve as pheromone. One such compound, zingiberenol oxide, has already been found in males but the exact stereostructure of it remains unknown. ARS will synthesize all possible stereoisomers (total 16) of zingiberenol oxide to finalize the identification and make the compounds of interest available for bioassay that will be conducted by the USDA-ARS-North Atlantic Area. 3.Progress Report: By conducting field bioassay at two sites in MD and VA we discovered an attractant for the brown marmorated stink bug, an invasive species that causes significant damage to a wide range of agricultural commodities and also is a nuisance pest aggregating en masse in dwellings. Research is underway to determine active components in the synthetic attractant that would help to identify the structure of the aggregation pheromone.