Isolation and characterization of antineoplastic alkaloids from Catharanthus roseus L. Don. cultivated in Egypt.

Vinblastine and vincristine (the antileukemic agents) were isolated, in a pure form, from Catharanthus roseus L. Don., cultivated in Egypt, by several chromatographic techniques.

The application of liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and collision-induced dissociation in the structural characterization of acylated flavonol O-glycosides from the seeds of Carrichtera annua.

The flavonoid fraction from the seeds of Carrichtera annua was studied using high-performance liquid chromatography simultaneously coupled to a photodiode array detector (LC/UV-DAD) and a mass spectrometer equipped with an electrospray source (LC/ESI-MS). Collision-induced dissociation (CID) mass spectral data obtained off-line by nanospray (nano-ESI) analysis provided a wealth of complementary structural information, which was consistent with structures established by NMR or led to the proposal of base structures of the flavonol O-glycosides present in the Carrichtera annua seed extract. The flavonoid fraction was found to contain 12 structurally related flavonol O-glycosides.