Ancistrotermes cavithorax Ancistrodial

Baker, R., Briner, P. H. and Evans, D. A. (1978) Chemical defence in the termite Ancistrotermes cavithorax ancistrodial and ancistrofuran. Chem. Commun., 410-11. 

The isolation, structural elucidation, and total synthesis of insect pheromones continue to be a very active area of natural product research (c/. Vol. 8, pp. 66, 102). A recent paper in this area describes the identification of ancistrodial (36) and ancistrofuran (37) as components of the defence secretion of termite soldiers Ancistrotermes cavithorax). 

In the above-mentioned works, 3 was converted to 21 (Fig. 12), which served as the key intermediate in the syntheses. For the preparation of an isomeric alcohol 22, its racemate was acetylated with vinyl acetate in the presence of lipase AK (Amano) to give the acetate (i )-23 and the remaining alcohol (5)-22 [48]. The enantiomers of 22 served as the intermediate for the synthesis of ancistrodial, a defense substance of a termite Ancistrotermes cavithorax [49], (5)-7-coronal, an ambergris odorant [48], and the enantiomer of the antibacterial terpene from Premna oligotricha [49]. 

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