A novel prepurification method was developed for producing paclitaxel. to guarantee high purity and yield from plant cell cultures. This method was a simple and efficient procedure. for the isolation and prepurification of paclitaxel from the biomass of Taxus chinensis, consisting of active clay treatment, followed by two steps of precipitation. The use of active clay treatment and precipitation in the prepurification process allows for rapid and efficient separation of paclitaxel from interfering compounds and dramatically increases the yield and purity of crude paclitaxel for HPLC purification steps compared to alternative processes. This prepurification process serves to minimize solvent usage. size, and complexity of the HPLC operations for paclitaxel purification. This process is readily scalable to pilot plant scale and eventually to a production environment where multikilogram quantities of material are expected to be produced. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.