Enhanced extraction of an anticancer drug, Vinblastine, from Catharanthus roseus

Catharanthus roseus G. Don belonging to family Apocyanaceae, contains more than 200 important compounds among which Vinblastine is an important anti-cancerous alkaloid. An efficient method for its extraction from plant material can lower its cost internationally. Study was aimed to increase the efficiency of extraction for the anticancer drug Vinblastine from C. roseus. In present study a comparison was made between different extractions methods for Vinblastine i.e., Microwave Assisted Extraction (MAE) and Soxhlet Extraction using a few drops of conc. HCl and ethanol respectively as extracting solvent. Quantitative estimation of Vinblastine was done with the help of HPLC (High performance liquid chromatography). Acetonitrile was used as a mobile phase. It was proved that microwave assisted extraction is more effective and efficient for extraction of Vinblastine. Microwave assisted extraction of leaves of C. roseus produced a maximum of 0.43g of extract per gram of plant material while using lesser time of extraction (30 seconds) with a very little amount of solvent used (10 mL/g) as compared to Soxhlet extraction (19.01g/30 g of plant material) and extraction time(10 hours). The maximum concentration of Vinblastine was found to be 44.33 mg/g of plant sample at 60 Seconds of microwave assisted extraction of power level 700W by using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Hence it is concluded that Microwave assisted extraction is a rapid and efficient tool for extraction of Vinblastine from C. roseus.