TAXOL AND TAXANE FORMATION IN PLANT-CELL CULTURE

The production of taxol, cephalomannine and baccatin III from a suspen sion cell culture of Taxus brevifolia has been investigated using HPLC and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). Interference from other product s in the cell culture medium led to development of an MS/MS assay base d on negative ion desorption chemical ionization using [H-2(3)]-labell ed internal standards for measurements of these compounds at the level of 2-8 ng cm(-3) of medium. The use of parent scans allowed the detec tion of a number of new taxanes for further study.