Pertraction of indole alkaloids from Vinca minor L.

The liquid-membrane (pertraction) separation technique was applied for the recovery and preconcentration of the indole alkaloid vincamine from native acidic extracts of Vinca minor L. On the basis of the distribution coefficients of vincamine determined for eight couples of feed solution/membrane and membrane/strip solution, the most suitable pertraction three-phase system was found to be: native extract (acetate buffer) -trichloroethylene-hydrochloric acid solution. This system, applied in a glass laboratory pertractor, proved the possibility of the direct recovery and preconcentration of the alkaloid from the plant extract without its alkalization. This permitted to integrate the processes of plant extraction and solute separation and preconcentration.