High-performance liquid chromatography and micellar electrokinetic chromatography of taxol and related taxanes from bark and needle extracts of Taxus species.

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) were applied for the separation of taxol, cephalomannine, and baccatin III in crude extracts from the needle and bark of Taxus species. The chromatogram of the bark extract was cleaner than that of the needle allowing a more reliable detection of taxol and cephalomannine in the bark extract. However, HPLC quantitation of taxol in the needle extract would be difficult due to coeluting taxinines. Nevertheless, this was not a problem in the MEKC experiment. In comparison to HPLC, MEKC offered baseline resolution of taxol from taxinines in the needle extract, less solvent waste, a smaller sample requirement, and the simultaneous detection of taxol, cephalomannine and baccatin III in a relatively simpler electrophoretic run.