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Cover Picture (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 1/1994)
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition in english
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 0570-0833
DOI - 10.1002/anie.199400011
Subject(s) - citation , cover (algebra) , chemistry , computer science , stereochemistry , library science , art history , art , engineering , mechanical engineering
The cover picture shows the structural formula of taxol, R 1 = Ph, R 2 = OAc, superimposed on the needles of the European yew (photograph: S. C. Wilson, TIME‐LIFE Magazine, USA). The source of this cytostatic agent till now has been the bark of the Pacific yew; however, about 3000 trees had to be sacrificed to obtain enough taxol to treat 500 patients. As a rapidly regenerable source of a precursor of taxol, the yew needles can help to remedy the situation, since the 10‐deacetylbaccatin III isolable from them can be converted into, for instance, taxotere (R 1 = t BuO, R 2 = OH) or taxol. Nevertheless, more abundant taxol sources and methods to make taxol accessible by semisynthesis or total synthesis are being sought. The fascinating history of taxol, unfolding along the highly interwoven boundary between medicine, cellular biology, and organic chemistry, is summarized by Nicolaou et al. on pages 45–66.