Isolation and Identification of Nonpolar Taxane Derivatives from the Plant Cell Culture of Taxus chinensis

Nonpolar taxoides extracted from a large-scale cell culture of Taxus chinensis were isolated through the normal and reverse phase column chromatographies, and their compounds were identified via NMR spectroscopy. The complete separation method was systematically established and described. In dichloromethane, dissolved paclitaxel and other taxoids with hexane were precipitated during the purification of paclitaxel from the plant cell culture of T. chinensis through a large-scale process while the relatively nonpolar taxane derivatives remained dissolved in the hexane phase. 13-Deoxy baccatin III (I), baccatin VI (II), taxchinin I (III), $2{\alpha}$, $5{\alpha}$, $10{\beta}$, $14{\beta}$-tetraacetoxy-4(20), 11-taxadiene(IV), 1-deoxy baccatinVI(V), and taxayuntin C (VI) were isolated through column chromatography and identified via NMR spectroscopy. Compounds I and IV were found to the major components, aside from paclitaxel, in the plant cell culture of T. chinensis. The concentrations of I and IV were compared with the that concentration of the paclitaxel in each of plant cell culture. The possible applications of compounds I, II, IV, and V were discussed.