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.