Noscapine - CAS 128-62-1 Catalog number: BADC-00302

Noscapine was extracted with 20-, 10-, 10- and 5-ml portions of 4% sodium hydroxide solution. To the combined aqueous solution were added 10 ml of concentrated hydrochloric acid and the resulting acidic solution was transferred into a separating funnel and then rinsed with three successive 5-ml portions of water. About 10 ml of concentrated ammonia solution (27.0-30.0% m/V of ammonia, ca. 0.896 g ml^-1) were added and the mixture was extracted with successive 20-, lo-, 10- and 5-ml portions of chloroform, washing each extract with the same 10ml of water. The chloroform extract was dried over anhydrous sodium sulphate, filtered, the sodium sulphate washed twice with 5 ml of chloroform, the washings were added to the extract, the solvent was distilled off and the contents were evaporated to dryness on a water-bath. The residue was dissolved in 10 ml of glacial acetic acid, 5 ml of acetic anhydride were added and the solution was titrated against 0.1 N perchloric acid using crystal violet as the indicator, the colour change being from violet to green. Each 1 ml of 0.1 N perchloric acid is equivalent to 0.04134 g of noscapine.

Calibrants based on blank donor blood from single persons were used for the construction of 5- to 6-point calibration curves. The samples were treated according to the same procedure except that 100 mL ofMeOH was replaced by 100 mLof the mixed standards of the drug substances. Concentrations in the original blood sample of 10, 100, 400, 800, 1200 and 1600 mg L^-1 for chlordiazepoxide, citalopram, lidocaine, methadone, tramadol and O-desmethyltramadol; 2, 8, 16, 24 and 32 mg L^-1for buprenorphine, norbuprenorphine, fentanyl, 6-MAM, noscapine, THC and THC-OH; 5, 20, 40, 60 and 80 mg L^-1 for THC-COOH; and 5, 50, 200, 400, 600 and 800 mg L^-1of the remaining substances were obtained. The SIL analogues were used in the quantification of all substances except noscapine and desmethylmirtazapine because SIL analogues of these substances were not commercially available at the time of the study. Instead, zolpidem-D6 andmirtazapine-D3 were used as IS for noscapine and desmethyl-mirtazapine, respectively.

Redevelopment of pre-dusted (using Lightning silver/grey magnetic fingerprint powder) spiked lifted fingermarks by either re-dusting with silica-CB particles or spraying with silica-CB particle suspension resulted in the successful SALDI-MS detection of nicotine, noscapine and 6-MAM. Fig. 6 shows the SALDI-MS detection of noscapine at m/z 220 post-redevelopment. The noscapine peak was initially absent in the pre-dusted fingermark. Heroin was detected in the sprayed section of thefingermark as [M + Na]⁺ at m/z 392 but remained undetectable in the re-dusted section of the fingermark. It was observed that methadone did not require a matrix for SALDI-MS and could be detected in the Lightning silver/grey dusted lifted fingermark. Also, it was noted that redevelopment with silica-CB particles using either method did not improve the S/N value of the peak of interest for methadone.