Antimitotic inhibitory activity

The area covered by natural products chemistry is boundless as it deals with nature itself. There is literally no limit to the topics to be dealt with. This volume 29 continues the tradition of supplying us with superb review articles written by experts. The articles in this volume deal with the screening, isolation, structure, synthesis, biosynthesis, and pharmacology of plant and microbial natural products that exhibit antimitotic, cancer chemotherapeutic, enzyme inhibitory, antiinflammatory, antibiotic and molting hormone activities. The compound types also cover a huge range of natural products, i.e., polyketides, terpenoids, sugars, alkaloids, proteins, and enzymes. 

Taxol (42) is highly cytotoxic and has broad antitumor activity. This alkaloid acts by a mechanism different than any other antitumor drug. At concentrations completely inhibitory to cell division, taxol had no significant effects on DNA, RNA, or protein synthesis, but HeLa cells were blocked in late G2 and/or M phase. In contrast to other antimitotic agents such as colchicine, maytansine, vincristine, or podophyllotoxin, taxol (42) was found to promote assembly of calf-brain microtubules, and the microtubules so produced were resistant to depolymerization by cold or CaCl2. 

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