Periwinkle anticancer drugs

Two deoxygenations of naturally occurring compounds have been reported. Anhydrovinblastine, an important intermediate for the anticancer drug navelbine, was prepared by Doris and coworkers from leurosine, an abundant alkaloid from the Madagascan periwinkle Catharantus roseus, in 70% yield by using Cp2TiCl (Scheme 5) [46]. 

The observation that fractions of the rosey periwinkle, Catharanthus rosea, produced severe leukopenia, resulted in the isolation and development of two major anticancer drugs, vincristine and vinblastine. These two complex, dimeric indole-indoline alkaloids are important in the treatment of acute childhood leukemia (vincristine), Hodgkin s disease (vinblastine), and metastatic testicular tumors (vinblastine), and continue to be manufactured today by mass cultivation and processing of their natural source. 

Two vinca alkaloid anticancer drugs (vincristine and vinblastine) and two precursors (catharanthine and vindoline) were extracted fixm periwinkle leaves and separated on a Cjg column k = 2S4 nm). Good resolution and complete elution were achieved in 15 min using a 62/38/0.3 water (0.1M phosphate buffer at pH 4.14)/acetonitrile/acetic acid mobile phase [1395a]. Linear response was reported over the range from 0.25-25 pg injected. 

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