Tetraponerines, toxic alkaloids in the venom of the Neo-Guinean pseudomyrmecine antTetraponera sp.

The Neo-Guinean pseudomyrmecine ant,Tetraponera sp. utilizes its modified sting to smear upon enemies a contact poison with strong deterring and toxic properties. The venom, which originates from the poison gland, contains a mixture of eight closely related, alkaloids (tetraponerine-1 to -8). The structure of tetraponerine-8 was established by an X-ray diffraction analysis and was reported previously. The structure of five other members of the series has now been determined by comparison of their spectral properties with those of tetraponerine-8 and of model compounds.