THE CHEMISTRY OF TAXOL, A CLINICALLY USEFUL ANTICANCER AGENT

Earlier studies on the chemistry of taxol from the authors’ laboratory are summarized, and recent work is discussed in more detail. The earlier studies include the isolation of new taxanes from Taxus brevifolia, the preparation of acyl and ether derivatives of taxol, the deacylation of taxol to baccatin III, and the oxidation of taxol and cephalomannine. Recent work on the reaction of taxol with electrophilic reagents has yielded a taxane 29 with an opened oxetane ring and another taxane 33 with a rearranged A ring. The preparation of a taxol derivative suitable for photoaffinity labeling studies on tubulin is also described. © 1990, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.