R & D of a New Anti-cancer Drug:Epothilone

Epothilone is one kind of natural product with characters of stabilizing microtubule as paclitaxel (Taxol).Among stabilizing microtubular products,the lactam analogues of the epothilone B and some of its derivatives have emerged as particularly promising candidates for commercial development.The total and semi-synthesis technologies of these compounds were described in this article.At the same time,the semisynthesis of epothilone D was introduced emphatically,and the recent progresses in research of the biological activity were discussed.