Chromatographic Silica Resin: A Cost-Effective Method for Removing Impurities

Isolation of natural products on DAVISIL® C18 silica is a very useful and cost-effective clean up method for removing impurities from target natural compounds. DAVISIL® reversed phase silica’s high 17% carbon load, uniform 60Å pores, and tight 50 micron particle size distribution, provides excellent chemical and structural properties for low pressure purification of natural compounds soluble under aqueous conditions.

Paclitaxel, which is sold by the brand name, TAXOL®, is an anti-cancer (“antineoplastic” or “cytotoxic”) chemotherapy drug. Paclitaxel, a plant alkaloid, is used to treat breast, ovarian, lung, bladder, prostate, melanoma, esophageal, as well as other types of solid tumor cancers. It has also been used in Kaposi’s sarcoma. Paclitaxel is a natural product isolated from the Canadian yew tree bark. Removing impurities from Paclitaxel is particularly challenging, since the molecular structures in the extracted mixture are very similar. The crude solvent extract contains Paclitaxel and large quantities of highly polar taxane impurities.