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Baccatin III is widely considered to be an inactive derivative of Taxol. We have reexamined its effect on in vitro assembly of tubulin under a variety of conditions. We found baccatin III to be active in all circumstances in which Taxol is active: it assembled GTP-tubulin, GDP-tubulin, and microtubule protein into normal microtubules and stabilized these polymers against cold-induced disassembly. The effect of baccatin III on in vitro microtubule assembly was quantitatively assessed through determination of critical concentrations, which can be used to obtain the apparent equilibrium constants for the addition of tubulin subunits to growing microtubules. The apparent equilibrium constants for the growth reaction for baccatin III-induced GTP-tubulin and GDP-tubulin assembly measured at 37 degrees C were 4.2-4.6-fold less than those measured for Taxol-induced GTP-tubulin and GDP-tubulin assembly. These data indicate that the entire Taxol side chain contributes only about -1 kcal/mol to the apparent standard free energy of microtubule growth at 37 degrees C regardless of the nature of the E site nucleotide. These data also support the idea that the majority of the interactions between Taxol and tubulin that affect this equilibrium occur between the baccatin portion of the molecule and the binding site. We have also observed a structural difference in microtubules formed using baccatin III and Taxol. Baccatin III-induced microtubules were routinely much longer than those assembled by Taxol, even when very high concentrations of baccatin III were employed. One interpretation of these data is that baccatin III and Taxol differ in their abilities to nucleate GTP-tubulin. This difference in activity may have bearing on the large disparity in cytotoxicity of the two molecules.

A series of 10-acyl and 7,10-diacyl paclitaxel analogues (7a-7e and 9a-9u) have been synthesized using a solid phase combinatorial chemistry approach, and a second series of 7-acyl-10-deacetylpaclitaxel analogues have been prepared by conventional chemistry. In the first series, 10-deacetylpaclitaxel (4) was linked through its 2'-hydroxyl group using 1% polystyrene-divinyl benzene resin functionalized with butyldiethylsilane linker (PS-DES) and then acylated at the C-10 hydroxyl group with various anhydrides and dialkyl dicarbonates in the presence of CeCl(3). The resin-bound C-10 acylated paclitaxel derivatives (6a-6e) were then treated with various carboxylic acids in the presence of 1,3-diisopropylcarbodiimide in toluene to provide polymer-supported 7,10-diacylpaclitaxels (8a-8u). These 7-acyl- and 7,10-diacylpaclitaxels (6a-6e and 8a-8u) were cleaved from the resin to give the 24 paclitaxel analogues 7a-7e and 9a-9u. Nine 7-acyl-10-deacetylpaclitaxel analogues were also prepared by conventional chemistry. Methodology to determine the tubulin-assembly activity of compounds prepared in small quantities by a combinatorial approach has been developed, and four analogues with improved tubulin-assembly activity as compared with paclitaxel were found, together with two analogues with improved cytotoxicity.

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