Cubitermes umbratus

T73 Trinervitermes bettonianus,575 Cubitermes umbratus,576 termites, Monomorium, ants 577... 

Cubitene (95), which was isolated from an East African termite soldier, Cubitermes umbratus, possesses an unusual twelve-membered ring. Its structure was determined by A-ray analysis. The irregular isoprenoid structure may be derived via a cembrene derivative or by coupling farnesyl pyrophosphate with dimethylallyl pyrophosphate to give an irregular diterpenoid directly. 

A full paper on the isolation of cembrene-A (64) and (3Z)-cembrene A from a termite soldier, Cubitermes umbratus, has appeared. An 11,12-epoxycem-brene (65), which has been extracted from Greek tobacco, may act as a biogenetic precursor of some of the 8,11- and 8,12-epoxycembranoids which are also found in tobacco. 

Cubitermes umbratus is an example of a termite using the second type defense. Soldiers produce four diterpenes, biflora-4,10 (19)-15-triene (156) (522), cembrane A (157) and 3-Z-cembrane A (158) (521) and cubitene (159). More recently, isolation and identification of cube-gene (160), a diterpene with a novel carbon skeleton from C. ugandensis soldiers, has been reported (539). Odontotermes badius also bites with... 

In addition to the macrocyclic diterpenes previously reported, soldiers of Cubitermes umbratus (subfamily Termitinae) produce a novel diterpene, bif 1 ora-4,10 19),15-triene (32). Three investigations of members of the more primitive family Rhinotermitidae further illustrate the biosynthetic diversity of this group. Two... 

Source Cubitermes umbratus Williams Mol. formula So 32 Mol. wt. 272 Solvent CDCk... 

Source Cubitermes umbratus Williams and Xenia obscuronata... 

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