HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY OF THE ALKALOID PERIVINE FROM CATHARANTHUS-ROSEUS AFTER DERIVATIZATION WITH DANSYL CHLORIDE

The Madagascar periwinkle Catharanthus roseus produces an unusually la rge number of alkaloids which are often difficult to analyse because o f their similar physical properties and because of their multiplicity. The majority of these ''Vinca alkaloids'' contain only indolyl and te rtiary nitrogen substituents which are not amenable to derivatisation. However, we found that the 2-acylindole alkaloid perivine does react with dansyl chloride to give a stable, fluorescent derivative with goo d chromatographic properties. Here we report a reversed-phase high-per formance liquid chromatography procedure to selectively detect perivin e as its dansyl derivative in the presence of all other co-extractable Vinca alkaloids. The method is applied to detect perivine in differen t tissues of C. roseus, and in Agrobacterium-transformed cultures of C . roseus.