​● Taxol is a drug that is commonly used to treat several different forms of cancer.
● Taxol naturally occurs in yew trees but is now commonly synthetically produced.
● A chiral auxiliary is an optically active substance that is temporarily incorporated into an organic
synthesis so that it can be carried out asymmetrically with the selective formation of a single
enantiomer

● Explanation of how Taxol (Paclitaxel) is obtained and used as a chemotherapeutic agent.
● Description of the use of chiral auxiliaries to form the desired enantiomer.
● Explanation of the use of a polarimeter to identify enantiomers.
Guidance
The structure of Taxol is provided in the IB data booklet in section 37.