Paclitaxel,a natural anti-cancer drug,is mainly extracted from Taxus chinensis.It has been widely used in the treatment of breast cancer,ovarian cancer,and some Head and neck cancer and lung cancer clinically.Paclitaxel is divided into natural paclitaxel and Semi-synthetic paclitaxel.Below,let’s look at how Semi-synthetic paclitaxel is made.
Since natural paclitaxel is extracted from Taxus chinensis with few sources,and the growth cycle of natural Taxus chinensis is long,only about 13.6kg bark can extract 1g of paclitaxel,and it takes 3 to 12 taxus trees with a history of more than 100 years to treat an ovarian cancer patient,the long-term shortage of supply and high price make the artificial synthesis technology of paclitaxel develop rapidly.
As a substance extracted from natural plants,paclitaxel has a complex structure.However,to address the scarcity of raw materials,chemists from around the world are studying the synthesis of paclitaxel.Until a French chemist separated a substance called 10-DAB from the leaves of British Taxus chinensis,its structure was very similar to that of paclitaxel,and its content was high.The leaves were more regenerative than bark and branches,and had less damage to Taxus chinensis.
Through the unremitting efforts of scientists,the method of Semi-synthetic paclitaxel was finally developed,and it is no longer necessary to cut down Taxus chinensis to extract it.Subsequently,by studying the structure of paclitaxel,other chemical drugs such as docetaxel and albumin paclitaxel were developed,bringing more therapeutic drugs to cancer patients.
Explanation:The potential efficacy and applications mentioned in this article are all from publicly available literature.
Extended reading:Hande Bio-tech is mainly engaged in the extraction and development of taxanes.Its core products are natural paclitaxel,10-DAB Semi-synthetic paclitaxel,10-DABIII,docetaxel,cabataxel,etc.If you need to know about paclitaxel based APIs,please feel free to contact us.
Post time: Jun-15-2023