A CHROMATOGRAPHIC INVESTIGATION OF MORPHINE METABOLISM IN RATS

Confirmation of N-Demethylation of Morphine and Isolation of a New Metabolite

¹ New York State Department of Mental Hygiene

Techniques based on thin-layer chromatography were applied qualitatively in an investigation into the metabolism of morphine in rats. The isolation of dihydromorphinone as a new metabolite of morphine is reported. The N-demethylation of morphine to normorphine was additionally confirmed during these investigations using several thin-layer chromatographic systems. The chromatographic method described was also applied to estimate the amounts of morphine and normorphine being excreted by rats treated with morphine.

Note:
Acknowledgments. The author wishes to express his gratitude to his friend and colleague, Dr. James M. Perel of the Psychiatric Institute, New York, N.Y., for his aid, advice, and encouragement. The author acknowledges the aid of Drs. Bertrand G. Winsberg, Irving Bialer, and Faredoon M. Irani, all of the Child Psychiatric Evaluation Research Unit, Brooklyn, N.Y. The assistance of Dr. Byron H. Arison (Merck Institute, Rahway, N. J.) regarding the interpretations of mass spectral data of morphine and its homologs, was extremely helpful in the identification of the new metabolite of morphine. The author is also indebted to Drs. W. Benz and L. Jampolsky (Hoffman-La Roche, Nutley, N. J.) for the mass spectrum of an early impure sample of the metabolite.

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