Three trees for a gram of medicine?The story of paclitaxel

The story of paclitaxel is a saga of scientific exploration,persistence and breakthrough.Paclitaxel,this drug with significant anti-cancer activity,its discovery and extraction process has been difficult,of which”three trees extract one gram of medicine”is a vivid portrayal of this process.

Three trees for a gram of medicine?The story of paclitaxel

The story begins in 1962,when Arthur Barclay,a botanist with the United States Department of Agriculture,and his team collected samples of taxus in the forests of the western United States.They found that this extract of yew bark has the ability to inhibit the growth of cancer cells.The discovery caught the attention of the National Cancer Institute(NCI),and the bark samples were sent to chemists Wall and Varney at the Triangle Institute in North Carolina for study.

However,the process of extracting paclitaxel is not easy.The researchers found that extracting 1 gram of paclitaxel required a large amount of bark,about three adult Pacific yew trees to be felled.Pacific yew trees are scarce and slow growing,which makes further development of paclitaxel a huge challenge.Nevertheless,the researchers continued to work tirelessly on extraction and purification.

During the extraction process,researchers need to collect the bark carefully to avoid irreversible damage to the tree.The collected bark is broken and then put into a specific solvent to dissolve paclitaxel from the bark through soaking and extraction techniques.However,the extract contains not only paclitaxel,but also a variety of other compounds,so it is necessary to use advanced separation techniques such as chromatography to separate paclitaxel from other compounds.

After years of hard work,Wall and Varney finally purified the pure substance of paclitaxel in 1966 and officially named it paclitaxel.At this point,however,they did not know the molecular structure of paclitaxel.It was not until 1971 that Wall and Varney,using X-ray diffraction and nuclear magnetic resonance analysis,determined the structure of paclitaxel and found that it is a ring compound composed of 47 carbon atoms.

Subsequently,scientists continued to further investigate the anti-cancer mechanism of paclitaxel.In 1979,molecular pharmacologist Susan Horwitz discovered the anti-cancer mechanism of paclitaxel,which led to a deeper understanding of the mechanism of action of paclitaxel.

It is worth mentioning that although the extraction process of paclitaxel is difficult,the scientists did not give up.In 1988,the French chemist Poitier and his team successfully realized the artificial synthesis of paclitaxel after years of efforts.This breakthrough allows the production of paclitaxel to no longer be limited to the scarce bark of taxus,bringing hope to more cancer patients.

The statement that”three trees extract one gram of medicine”is somewhat exaggerated,but it vividly reflects the difficult and precious process of paclitaxel extraction.This story is not only a journey of scientific exploration,but also a legend of persistence and breakthrough.It tells us that with enough perseverance and determination,human beings can overcome many difficulties,discover new scientific mysteries,and contribute to human health and well-being.

Note:The potential benefits and applications presented in this article are derived from the published literature.