Nepetic acid is closely related to the well-known compound nepetalactone, the active constituent of catnip! Catnip, also known as catnep, cataria or catmint is an herb of Nepeta cataria L., Labiatae. Our cat, Leo, seems happier these days...

Nepetalactone has been in the news several times in the past few years, owing to its observed properties as an insect repellent for the German cockroach and the mosquito. These properties have been observed in collaborative work by scientists at Iowa State University (the institution at which Professor Foxman received his Bachelor of Science degree) and the U.S. Forest Service.

For further details of the research work on nepetalactone, you can look at the available Iowa State University web pages on possible repellent applications for the cockroach and mosquito.

While a Google web search nows turns up commercial sources for nepetalactone, we know nothing of the purity of these materials, as well as their content with respect to the major and minor isomers. Thus we cannot provide links to those companies.