Vinca rosea plants Vinblastine sulfate

The alkaloid mixture from the extraction of Vinca rosea plants (as in vinblastine extraction) was chromatographed to give vincristine which was then converted to the sulfate, according to U.S. Patent 3,205,220. 

Vinblastine sulfate is the nonproprietary name assigned by the United States Adopted Names Council to the compound originally named vinca-leukoblastine sulfate1 s 3. It is the 1 1 sulfate salt of an alkaloid obtained from the plant Vinca rosea Linn. (Catharanthus roseus G. Don) of the family Apocynaceae, better known as Madagascar periwinkle. Frequently the name is abbreviated to VLB sulfate. It is also identified by the code numbers NSC-49812 and 29060-LE4. The elucidation of the molecular structure, stereochemistry, and absolute configuration of this interesting compound is fully documented in the literature5 7 8. 

Initial methods for the isolation of vinblastine from the periwinkle plants (vinca rosea) had been described (5,7,23-25) and well documented in several texts including the previous profile of vinblastine sulfate (12). Isolation of vinblastine and vincristine from Catharanthus roseus continues to receive attention, and several procedures have been reported (mainly in the patent literature) for the isolation and separation of these alkaloids (24-29). Extracts of Catharanthus roseus have been found to contain N-demethylvinblastine and this can be used to prepare vincristine by formylating the alkaloid mixture before separation and purification (30). 

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