Chemistry, biology and medicine of selected tubulin polymerizing agents

This article summarizes our work over the past five years into the chemistry and biology of tubulin polymerizing agents. These studies commenced with the total synthesis of Taxol " and have more recently been concerned with several new natural products, the epothilones, the sarcodictyins and eleutherobin, which share taxol's unusual mechanism of action. Highlights of the total syntheses of these natural products are presented together with our endeavors to produce libraries of structural analogs for biological evaluations. This latter aspect has utilized exciting new developments in solid phase and combinatorial chemistry.