Isolation of indole alkaloids from Catharanthus roseus by centrifugal partition chromatography in the pH-zone refining mode.

Centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC) in the pH-zone refining mode allowed a preparative and efficient isolation of vindoline, vindolinine, catharanthine and vincaleukoblastine from a crude mixture of Catharanthus roseus alkaloids. The separation protocol was tested with a synthetic mixture of vindoline, catharanthine and vincaleukoblastine. The fraction content was analyzed and the results compared with theoretical chromatograms obtained by numerical simulation.