CHAPTER 3 

 STUDIES INVOLVING ATTRACTION 



Introduction 



Lactic Acid as a Model Compound 



At the inception of the work for this dissertation, lactic acid was the only 

 widely recognized mosquito attractant [5]. This compound only attracts the Ae. 

 aegypti species of mosquito. Due to this aforementioned attribute and due to the 

 abundance of lactic acid on the skin, it is the most studied compound in this 

 dissertation. The studies reported in this chapter are arranged in three sections, as 

 described below. 



Reaction Studies 



The identification of lactic acid can be achieved through knowledge of its 

 characteristic fragmentations and associative reactions in the mass spectrometer; 

 therefore, these reactions will be examined. The extent of these reactions and the 

 abundance of ions is dependent upon operating parameters and sample conditions 

 [72,73]. Additionally, mass spectrometer ion sources have slightly different designs; 

 therefore, some differences in relative abundances are inherent to the mass 

 spectrometer. These studies are beneficial to studies involving identification of lactic 



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