Preparation of 10-deacetylbaccatin III and 7-protected-10- deacetylbaccatin III derivatives from 10-deacetyl taxol A, 10-deacetyl taxol B, and 10-deacetyl taxol C

摘要

The present invention relates to a process for converting purified, partially purified or crude taxane mixtures into a protected precursor of 10-deacetylbaccatin III and into 10-deacetylbaccatin III. The process comprises three steps, the first of which includes contacting a mixture containing at least one naturally occurring taxane compound having the structure (II) ##STR1## in which R.sub.1 is phenyl, ##STR2## [an ester linkage at the C-13 position] with at least one hydroxy protecting group. The second step involves cleaving the ester linkage of the protected taxane thus giving rise to a protected precursor of 10- deacetylbaccatin III, the deprotection of which leads to 10- deacetylbaccatin III.