Docetaxel is a chemotherapy medication currently used to treat several types of cancers. This medication comes from a class of molecules calls taxanes that are notoriously difficult to crystalize, which makes their study and crystallographic characterization difficult. Solid-state NMR spectra on the microcrystalline structures can be obtained. During my summer research experience at Brigham Young University, I created models of different conformations of docetaxel to energy minimize and utilize to calculate theoretical chemical shifts to compare with experimental with the aim of characterizing a novel polymorph. The experimental data was also compared to known crystal structures of docetaxel to verify structural conclusions. Further characterization of medications such as docetaxel may enable improvement in the shelf life and their use in treatments.

REU summer determining the crystal structure of docetaxel using solid-state NMR spectroscopy

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.