Effects of some adsorbents on the pre-purification of taxol (anticancer drug) from hazelnut nutshells

Abstract

Background and Objective: The most important pharmaceutically active substance in plant-derived chemotherapy drugs is paclitaxel. Taxane compounds such as paclitaxel, cephalomannine, baccatin III and 10-Deacetylbaccatin III are found in hazelnut shells of Turkey's Black Sea region. This study aimed to determine the most effective adsorbent on the purity and efficiency of these taxane compounds from nutshells. Materials and Methods: The adsorbent effect on the purification of taxane compounds from hazelnut shells was studied using different adsorbent materials. For this purpose, extracts were obtained from samples of hazelnut shells collected, dried and ground into solvents. The resulting extract was concentrated into a stock solution. Samples taken from the stock solution were separately treated with seven different adsorbent materials and then filtered and analyzed with HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography). Results: The HPLC analysis of taxane compounds determined on taxane, both the purification and whether or not the substance was lost, by measuring the efficiency at the same time. Graphene-oxide was found to be the adsorbent with the highest positive effect on the purification of paclitaxel in hazelnut nutshells in all cases. Graphene-oxide also had the least loss in terms of paclitaxel yield efficiency in hazelnut nutshells. Conclusion: The effects of adsorbent treatment increased both the purity and efficiency of taxane compounds and was, thus, a useful pre-purification method for shells obtained from Turkish hazelnuts. This shell waste material may prove to be a good alternative source of taxol as an anticancer drug.