Abstract
Thebaine is an important opiate alkaloid derived from opium that can be converted into various pharmaceutical compounds. However, only a few studies have focused on the quality and purity control of thebaine. In this study, the impurities present in a thebaine raw material sample, which was extracted from Papaver bracteatum Lindl., were studied through directed syntheses and structural identification using mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and circular dichroism. The thebaine sample was analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography, the impurities present were identified by two-dimensional ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry, and their structures were elucidated by mass spectrometry. Following the preparation of identified impurities, their structures were characterized and confirmed to be northebaine and thebaine N-oxide by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and circular dichroism. The identification of these impurities and the development of a synthetic route toward these compounds will be expected to lay the foundation for the analysis of thebaine-related substances and for the preparation of related reference substances.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Gansu Purui Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Gansu, China) for providing the thebaine sample.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. ZX, MY, LL, JW and YZ performed material preparation, data collection, and analysis. The first draft of the manuscript was written by ZX and CH. All authors commented on subsequent versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Zhou, X., Yuan, M., Li, L. et al. Chromatographic and spectroscopic study of impurities present in thebaine obtained from Papaver bracteatum Lindl.. Chem. Pap. 75, 5825–5837 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11696-021-01757-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11696-021-01757-x