A STUDY OF THE ELECTROCHEMICAL OXIDATION OF NAVELBINE

The search for drugs with cytostatic activity and with better pharmaco kinetic features led to the synthesis of Navelbine(R) (5'-noranhydrovi nblastine) which is a structural modification of antitumour Vinca alka loids. The new drug Navelbine has high liposolubility, a lower toxicit y and increased antitumour activity. The electrochemical oxidation of Navelbine was studied over a wide pH range (1.2-12.8) at a glassy carb on disc electrode in buffered aqueous media using differential pulse a nd cyclic voltammetry. The anodic oxidation mechanism is a very comple x, pH dependent, multistep electron transfer process with coupled homo geneous chemical reactions.