抄録
We report here on hydrophobic ionic liquids (ILs) for effective extraction of hydrophobic taxanes such as baccatin III and paclitaxel from an aqueous medium. 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([C4MIM][PF6]) and 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([C6MIM][PF6]) were selected from the viewpoint of immiscibility in water as ILs and examined for in situ extraction of the taxanes. For their application in cell culture, the partition coefficient of the taxanes between ILs and aqueous medium was measured. The partition coefficient for [C6MIM][PF6] was greater than that for [C4MIM][PF6], which might be due to the higher hydrophobicity of [C6MIM][PF6] compared to [C4MIM][PF6]. It was observed that [C6MIM][PF6] was non-toxic while [C4MIM][PF6] was slightly cytotoxic to Taxus cuspidata callus, the producer of the taxanes, suggesting that hydrophobic [C6MIM][PF6] might be an effective extractant for the taxanes.
