Termite trail marker pheromone

Recent trend in the synthesis of olefinic pheromones is the use of transition metal-catalyzed cross coupling reaction for carbon-carbon bond formation. Scheme 8 summarizes a synthesis of the termite trail marker pheromone, (3Z,6Z)-3,6-dodecadien- l-ol (2) by Oehlschlager [19]. The key-step is the palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling of allylic chloride A and alkenylalane B. 

Trail markers are used almost exclusively by social insects, such as bees, ants, and termites. An insect that has located a new source of food returns to the nest, marking his trail by releasing these substmices. At the nest, recraitment is initiated by perception of these trail pheromones. Some representative trail pheromones are presented in Fig. 17c. 

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