Goal Unambiguous but Questionable

The importance of science, however, cannot be directly assessed using the criteria of immediate usefulness . As organic chemistry has evolved, synthetic chemists have striven to synthesize any compound that could be isolated from natural sources, especially from living organisms, often without any obvious relevance to the possible utilitarian value of these compounds. Some of these syntheses took decades to accomplish. At present, the gap between the discovery of a new natural compound (and such discoveries are made, in the true sense of the word, every day) and its synthesis is reduced to a very few years, or even months. However, why spend so much effort for the preparation of a compound already synthesized in nature  

Microorganisms and fungi are an especially rich source of isoprenoids of the most diverse structures. Among these products one may find powerful toxins, compounds with antitumor and anti-inflammatory activity or antibiotics. Very little is known about their role in the host organisms. However, the broad spectrum of the observed biological activity could be taken as at least circumstantial evidence to indicate the existence of some function mediated by these products and essential to their producers. 

It appears that insects have achieved the most spectacular results in elaborating an extremely intricate and ingenious system of chemical communication. With the help of pheromones they can pass information about species of the 

Sex attractants of many other Lepidopterans (butterflies and moths) were shown to have rather primitive structures, such as long-chain unbranched primary alcohols (12-16 carbon atoms) containing one or more double bonds. Other insects have elaborated quite different kinds of chemicals for the same purposes, e.g. 13-15.  

The chemical information channel is especially vital for social insects. The nearly ideal social order in a beehive is perpetuated as long as the honeybee s queen maintains the ability to produce a very simple aliphatic compound, ( )-9-oxo-2-decenoic acid 20 ( queen substance ).This multipurpose compound 

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