Recent Progress in the Synthesis of Epothilones

Epothilones exhibit high antitumor activities with the same mechanism of action as Taxol and retain a much greater toxicity against p-glycoprotein overexpressing multiple drug resistant (MDR) cells. The realization of their unique potential as antitumor agents resulted in an intense race for their total synthesis, structure modification, and biological investigation. Recently a wealth of new chemistry has been developed in the synthesis of epothilone family. This review will present recent progress in the syntheses of epothilones and analogues.