[1][2] It functions as a sex attractant that stimulates the olfactory receptors of male drones.

[3] Additionally, this acid plays a crucial role in regulating the colony's social structure; it inhibits the development of ovaries in worker bees, which are sterile females.

[4] When the queen bee is removed from the hive, the worker bees initiate the construction of new queen cells and the previously inhibited drones develop functional ovaries.

The exact biological mechanisms through which 9-oxodecenoic acid and related substances influence these processes are not fully understood, but they are thought to affect the nervous system in some way.

The double bond is oxidized to the aldehyde with osmium tetroxide and sodium periodate in aqueous tert-butanol.