Discovery, semiochemicals

Humans possess rich repositories of odors, one of which, the axillae, has been implicated as the source of semiochemical information. There is, however, no substantial body of evidence to allow one to conclude that releaser-pheromone effects can be ascribed to human odors. While there has been, and undoubtedly will continue to be, a stream of products claiming to use sex attractants and behavior modifiers isolated from humans, the absence of experimental data backing the efficacy of the claims may also be a trademark. Evidence addressing product efficacy may be presented in the form of personal testimonials, magazine/newspaper advertisements or the discoverer s appearance on a T.V. talk-show. Where data on such discoveries has appeared in patents, e.g., the copulin mixture, it can be subjected to an experimental protocol to determine validity. Eventually this will occur with other compounds claimed to be human pheromones and packaged for consumer-purchase caveat emptor). 

Semiochemicals are naturally present in only very minute quantities and are sometimes unstable at ambient temperature or in the presence of light (e.g. polyunsaturated aldehydes). Discovery of important and useful semiochemicals is often very difficult because of the scarcity of the compounds and requires considerable technical skill. General semiochemical research techniques can be found in reference texts on chemical ecology (2,5). 

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