Journal of Chemical Ecology, Vol. 29, No. 3, March 2003 (  C 2003) INTERSPECIFIC VARIATION IN TERPENOID COMPOSITION OF DEFENSIVE SECRETIONS OF EUROPEAN Reticulitermes TERMITES ALEXANDRE QUINTANA, 1,2 JUDITH REINHARD, 1,∗ ROBERT FAURE, 3 PAOLO UVA, 1,4 ANNE-GENEVI ` EVE BAGN ` ERES, 1,4 GEORGES MASSIOT, 2 and JEAN-LUC CL ´ EMENT 1,4 1 CNRS, Laboratoire de Neurobiologie–UPR 9024 31 Chemin Joseph Aiguier, 13402 Marseille Cedex 20, France 2 Institut de Recherche Pierre Fabre Centre de Recherche sur les Substances Naturelles, CNRS–UMR 1973 Parc technologique du Canal, 3 Rue Ariane 31527 Ramonville, France 3 Universit´ e Aix-Marseille III Laboratoire de Valorisation de la Chimie Fine, CNRS–UMR 6009 Avenue Escadrille Normandie-Niemen, 13397 Marseille Cedex 20, France 4 Institut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l’Insecte, UMR 6035 CNRS–Universit´ e F. Rabelais, Facult´ e des Sciences et Techniques Parc de Grandmont, 37200 Tours, France (Received June 13, 2002; accepted November 2, 2002) Abstract—Sixteen terpene compounds were isolated from the soldier defensive secretions of seven European termite taxa of the genus Reticulitermes (Isoptera, Rhinotermitidae). We describe species-specific mixtures of monoterpenes (α- pinene, β-pinene, limonene), sesquiterpenes (germacrene C, germacrene A, ger- macrene B, β-selinene, δ-selinene, γ -selinene, ( E )-β-farnesene, γ -cadinene, nerolidol), diterpenes (geranyl linalool, geranyl geraniol, geranyl geranial), and one sesterterpene (geranyl farnesol). Compounds were purified by HPLC and their structures determined by means of MS spectrometry, or 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy. Comparison of two different analytical approaches, GC-MS and HPLC with subsequent NMR spectroscopy, revealed Cope rearrangement of germacrene A, germacrene B, and germacrene C to the respective β-elemene, γ -elemene, and δ-elemene under GC conditions, thus demonstrating the lim- its for this analytical approach. The species-specific compound composition provides insight into taxonomy and species origin of European Reticulitermes. ∗ To whom correspondence should be addressed at current address: Research School of Biological Sci- ences, Visual Sciences, Australian National University, GPO Box 475, Canberra Act 2601, Australia, E-mail: reinhard@rsbs.anu.edu.au 639 0098-0331/03/0300-0639/0 C  2003 Plenum Publishing Corporation