The isolation and identification of makisterone A from the yew, Taxus cuspidata

The ecdysteroids were extracted from yew, Taxus cuspidata, needles and twigs and recovered from the aqueous extract by reversed phase adsorption. Purification of the ecdysteroids was achieved by a single solvent partition and a dry column chromatogram followed by fractionation on an adsorptive Porasil A (60) column. Makisterone A was a minor component identified by melting point, liquid chromatography, gas chromatography of the trimethylsilyl ether, mass spectrometry, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry. A second minor component was isolated but not identified.