| Opioid addiction is a serious problem in the United States. Mitrgyna speciosa is a tree from Southeast Asia that has traditionally been used as a substitute for opium as well as a treatment for withdrawal. The leaves have also been used by Thai workers for their stimulant properties. Mitragynine is the most prominent alkaloid within the crude extracts of the leaf material, and has been studied extensively for its opioid activity. Here extraction, isolation, and purification methods of mitragynine from the crude extracts are described. Using the purified mitragynine, an analytical HPLC method was validated for the quantitation of mitragynine from the crude extracts. Also, using semi-preparative HPLC, individual peaks were collected as they eluted and chemically analyzed by mass spectroscopy and NMR to determine the alkaloids within the crude extracts. Based on the determined alkaloids, an alkaloidal fingerprint of the crude extracts was developed. |
