Taxol has been found to be an effective drug for the treatment of ovarian cancer. However, the only current source of this compound is from trees of the Taxus genus and methods need to be developed for its separation from the natural plant source. The extraction of taxol and like compounds from the ground needle and seed of Taxus cuspitada using supercrirical carbon dioxide and carbon dioxide with ethanol was studied in this study. The extractions were performed at various temperatures and pressures. It was demonstrated that supercritical carbon dioxide is able to extract taxol and like compounds from the ground needle and seed, especially at higher pressures. The supercritical extractions of taxol and like compounds were also found to be more selective than a conventional liquid extraction. Furthermore, a significant portion of the taxol and like compounds in the needle and seed could be removed in the supercritical precess. To remove the non-polar components we treated the ground needle and seed with n-hexane before the extraction. It shows that both the extraction yield and selectivity resulted from the supercritical extraction with n-hexane pretreatment is more effective than those without n-hexane pretreatment.
