Taxol content of various Taxus species in Hungary.

The anticancer drug taxol was separated and quantitatively determined in bark and foliage of different Taxus species by high-performance liquid chromatography to prove the presence of taxol in Hungarian Taxus species. The measurements were carried out with photodiode array detection using a porous graphitized carbon column, and a water:dioxan 54:46 v/v eluent. Taxol was established as being present in measurable amounts in each Hungarian Taxus species. According to the results bark was richer in taxol than foliage. It could also be observed that the older the bark or foliage, the more taxol it contained. The validation process proved that the method is reliable and can be used for the separation and quantitative determination of taxol in both the bark and foliage of Taxus species grown in Hungary.