General and recent aspects of the chemistry and structure-activity relationships of taxoids

The antimitotic agents of the Taxoid series are important substances as anticancer drugs. The efficacy of paclitaxel (Taxol (R)) and docetaxel (Taxotere (R)) has been well demonstrated in the treatment of breast, ovarian and lung cancers. Although these drugs have brought benefits in cancer chemotherapy, they unfortunately possess some disadvantages due to their inefficacy on certain resistant cancers, and due to their toxic side effects. For these reasons, the synthesis of new taxoids with improved biological activity is still an important research area. This review while covering general aspects of taxoid chemistry focuses on recent developments in this area especially those contributing to the improved availability of antimitotic taxoids. Studies of structure-activity relationships are also described.