Author
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Ketchum, Raymond |
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Gibson, Donna |
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Submitted to: Journal of Liquid Chromatography
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 9/29/1994 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: This laboratory has been a pioneer in developing methods for the production and isolation of the anti-cancer drug, taxol, from cultures of cells from the common yew (Taxus spp.). These cells are grown in the laboratory in a liquid nutrient broth. Taxol is excreted from the cells into the liquid medium. Producing taxol this way eliminates the need for harvest of bark and needles of yew, and the subsequent difficult purification of taxol fro this crude material. This paper describes a new and innovative means of isolating and purifying taxol and other related compounds from cell cultures. This new method is simple, rapid, economical, and eliminates the use of hazardous and toxic halogenated hydrocarbon solvents such as chloroform and methylene chloride. Technical Abstract: A method is described to isolate a mixture of taxanes from cell suspension cultures of Taxus species. The aqueous suspension medium is pre-filtered and centrifuged to remove cellular debris, and then passed through either nylon or PVDF membranes. Contaminants are washed from the membranes and the taxanes are eluted with appropriate solvents. This method provides a rapid, efficient, and inexpensive means of extracting taxanes from cell suspension medium, as well as a significant reduction in the total volume of solvents used. |
