A Rapid and Reliable Solid-Phase Extraction Method for High-Performance Liquid Chromatographic Analysis of Opium Alkaloids from Papaver Plants

Abstract

Opium poppy, Papaver somniferum L. contains pharmaceutically important alkaloids such as morphine, codeine, thebaine, papaverine and noscapine.2) Although morphine is the most effective analgesic, it also has strongly addictive properties and is a raw material for illegal heroin production. Opium alkaloids including morphine, codeine and thebaine are narcotic drugs under international control.3) Cultivation of opium poppy (P. somniferum L.) and great scarlet poppy (P. bracteatum Lindl.), which produces thebaine, is strictly controlled under the Opium Law and the Narcotics and Psychotropics Control Law, respectively, in Japan. P. somniferum has a long cultivation history worldwide and there are many varieties having various colors and shapes of flowers, shapes of capsules, and alkaloid composition and content.2-4) Despite the strict control of the plants, seeds of P. somniferum have been imported and sold as an ornamental gardening flower. To control illegal cultivation of the plants, rapid and reliable extraction methods of opium alkaloids from many plant samples are required, because distinction of these plants from legal ornamental species is difficult at their vegetative growth stage.The alkaloids in genus Papaver were extracted by liquidliquid extraction, 5) with methanol, 6) or a mixture of methanol and 28% ammonia. 7) However, liquid-liquid extraction is laborious and requires biologically toxic chloroform, the use of which is decreasing because of environmental protection, and methanolic extracts contain impurities that affect separation of alkaloids. The alkaloids in gum opium and poppy straw were also extracted with 2.5% acetic acid and purified by use of a base-deactivated silica-based stationary phase column. 8)In this case, toxic organic solvents, dichloromethane and isopropanol, were required to elute the alkaloids from the purification column. Solid-phase extraction has been applied for analysis of narcotic drugs in biological fluids such as urine and plasma, [9][10][11] and shown to provide clean extracts without sample loss through emulsion formation. Additionally, halogenated solvents, chloroform and dichloromethane, are not needed, however, there is no report on solid-phase extraction of opium alkaloids from the plant materials as far as we know. The present paper describes a rapid and reliable solidphase extraction method for opium alkaloids from Papaver plants for HPLC analysis. ExperimentalPlant Materials Capsules of Papaver somniferum, P. setigerum, P. bracteatum and P. pseudo-orientale cultivated in a field or a phytotron (20°C /14 or 16 h light, 17°C/10 or 8 h dark, 60% relative humidity) at Division of Tsukuba, Research Center for Medicinal Plant Resources, National Institute of Biomedical Innovation, were used as plant materials. They were either air-dried or lyophilized and ground prior to extraction. Capsules of field-grown P. somniferum var. Ikkanshu and leaves of juvenile P. somniferum (India variety) grown in a phytotron were used for extraction experiments.Extraction Solvent A pow...

Effect of Sauropus androgynus Leaf Extracts on the Expression of Prolactin and Oxytocin Genes in Lactating BALB/C Mice

“…These secondary metabolites are synthesized along with the growth of plant. Yoshimatsu et al [9] reported that various amounts of detectable papaverine from Papaver is related to various extraction solvents, cultivar and the part of the plant used as the source in the research.…”

Recent Advances in the Chemistry of Oripavine and Its Derivatives

“…Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) is also utilized for the identification of alkaloids and screening of opium samples prior to further examination by other chromatographic methods. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with UV-Vis detection as the determinative step is the method of choice for the quantitative determination of opium alkaloids [14] [29]- [31]. Barnett et al [32] established a dual chemiluminescence reagent for the determination of the opiate alkaloids morphine, codeine, oripavine, and thebaine in Papaver somniferum extracts.…”

Development of chromatographic methods for thebaine detection and quantification along with some of related alkaloid derivatives

“…Various analytical methods have been reported and published which refer to thebaine or other alkaloid analysis and determination from Papaver plants like somniferum or bracteatum [7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. For instance, there are published methods for determination of alkaloids in Papaver somniferum and thebaine using HPLC with chemiluminescence detection [14][15][16], capillary electrophoresis analysis [17,18], infrared and Raman spectroscopy of alkaloids [19], infrared and ultraviolet spectroscopic determination [20] and configurational analysis of thebaine [21].…”