Modification of Taxol with amino acids derivatives of polyethylene glycol

Water-soluble Taxol prodrugs were prepared by attaching Taxol to PEG chain with different molecular weight through different amino acid spacers.The water-solubility of PEGylated Taxol increased more than 1 000 times compared with Taxol.In vitro antitumor test of PEGylated Taxol against MCF-7 and SGC-7901 cell lines showed good antitumor activity in a concentration-dependent manner.The water-solubility of Taxol was improved significantly by modification with amino acid derivatives of polyethylene glycol while in vitro antitumor activity was retained,which was the main purpose of chemical modification of Taxol.