Rapid and simultaneous determination of five vinca alkaloids in Catharanthus roseus and human serum using trilinear component modeling of liquid chromatography–diode array detection data

• A novel chemometrics-assisted HPLC–DAD coupled with ATLD method was developed.
• The proposed strategy was employed to determine five vinca alkaloids in complex matrices.
• Results indicated that the strategy can solve co-eluted peaks in LC analysis.
• Satisfactory results were obtained in Catharanthus roseus and human serum samples.

A novel chemometrics-assisted high performance liquid chromatography method coupled with diode array detector (HPLC–DAD) was proposed for the simultaneous determination of vincristine (VCR), vinblastine (VLB), vindoline (VDL), catharanthine (CAT) and yohimbine (YHB) in Catharanthus roseus (C. roseus) and human serum samples. With the second-order advantage of the alternating trilinear decomposition (ATLD) method, the resolution and rapid determination of five components of interest in complex matrices were performed, even in the present of heavy overlaps and unknown interferences. Therefore, multi-step purification was omitted and five components could be fast eluted out within 7.5 min under simple isocratic elution condition (acetonitrile/0.2% formic acid water, 37:63, v/v). Statistical parameters, such as the linear correlation coefficient (R2), root-mean-square error of prediction (RMSEP), limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantitation (LOQ) had been calculated to investigate the accuracy and reliability of the method. The average recoveries of five vinca alkaloids ranged from 97.1% to 101.9% and 98.8% to 103.0% in C. roseus and human serum samples, respectively. The five vinca alkaloids were adequately determined with limits of detection (LODs) of 29.5–49.3 ng mL−1 in C. roseus and 12.4–27.2 ng mL−1 in human serum samples, respectively. The obtained results demonstrated that the analytical strategy provided a feasible alternative for synchronously monitoring the quality of raw herb and the concentration of blood drugs.