Batch experiment studies were carried out for the microwave-assisted extraction of paclitaxel from Taxus chinensis using methanol while varying parameters such as microwave power, extraction temperature and contact time. It was possible to recover the majority of paclitaxel (similar to 99%) from the biomass through a singular extraction at microwave powers of 50-150 W, and temperatures of 303-318 K, within an operational time of 6 min. The kinetics data for paclitaxel extraction was in concordance with the hyperbolic and second-order models. The effective diffusion coefficient of paclitaxel (303 similar to 318 K: 0.3801 x 10(-12) similar to 0.5062 x 10(-12) m(2)/S, 50 similar to 150 W: 0.2342 x 10(-12) similar to 0.2560 x 10(-12) m(2)/s) and mass transfer coefficient (303 similar to 318 K: 0.2709 x 10(-7) similar to 0.3623 x 10 7 m/s, 50 similar to 150 W: 1.5110 x 10(-7) similar to 2.2227 x 10(-7) m/s) increased with increasing extraction temperatures and powers. Thermodynamic parameters, such as standard enthalpy (Delta H-0), standard entropy (Delta S-0) and standard Gibbs free energy (Delta G(0)) change, were investigated, with the results indicating that the process was endothermic, irreversible, and spontaneous.