Taxol is a natural durg, which has excellent anti-tumor activity. However, due to its poor water solubility, it was limited in clinical use. More and more attention has been paid to develop the water- soluble taxol prodrugs. Reviewed in this paper were the studies on the water-soluble taxol prodrugs in recent decade. It was showed that ester formation at the 2'-hydroxyl is the most promising approach toward prodrug design.

Key words: TAXUS CHENSIS, WATER SOLUBILITY, ANTICARCINOGEN