Possible to remove Sorbitol and Lactose from Codeine Phosphate pills?

[Tramalala]

Hello,

Recently I managed to acquire a batch of codeine pills again. Now I noticed that they actually contain Sorbitol (43mg) and Lactose (unknown amount). In my experience with drinking Codeine Cough Syrup I've found that sorbitol is not nice for the stomach and intestines. Which is why I don't drink that stuff anymore. Now I'm not sure how much Sorbitol there is in a cough syrup compared to a couple of these pills. But I might take upwards of 600mg of codeine which is quite a lot of 30mg pills and sorbitol i think, so is there any possibility to do something CWE like for this?

Greetings,

T

 

[allone]

hmm interesting. i can perhaps try to experiment removing it and see how it works trying it myself. any chance to share??

 

[4meSM]

Unfortunately codeine phosphate and sorbitol are both highly soluble in water so a classic CWE isn't going to work.
IIRC correctly codeine phosphate is poorly soluble in acetone, while sorbitol is easily soluble, so an acetone wash could be an option (this is on top of my head, so it would be best to double check it).

Another option would be to use a very small amount of hot ethanol to get rid off most of the sorbitol, but you'll also lose a bit of codeine.

The bulletproof method would be to do an "acid-base extraction": basically dissolve the pills in a basic aqueous solution to make codeine freebase and extract with an organic solvent.

 

[Tramalala]

Unfortunately codeine phosphate and sorbitol are both highly soluble in water so a classic CWE isn't going to work.
IIRC correctly codeine phosphate is poorly soluble in acetone, while sorbitol is easily soluble, so an acetone wash could be an option (this is on top of my head, so it would be best to double check it).

Another option would be to use a very small amount of hot ethanol to get rid off most of the sorbitol, but you'll also lose a bit of codeine.

The bulletproof method would be to do an "acid-base extraction": basically dissolve the pills in a basic aqueous solution to make codeine freebase and extract with an organic solvent.

Thanks for the reply. I think I'm going to try the acetone wash first. From what I've read that seems easy enough.

Will read about the acid-base extraction too and see if it's worth to do for me. Will let you guys know if it works when I get around to trying either of the methods!

Cheers.

 

[sekio]

Lactose is virtually insoluble in acetonitrile, THF and acetone and very slightly soluble in EtOH and MeOH.

Sorbitol - Solubility in water: soluble. Other solubilities: slightly soluble in acetic acid, soluble in glycerol and propylene glycol, slightly soluble in methanol, ethanol, phenol,, acetamide, acetone, dmf and pyridine, practically insoluble in most other org. sol

I think you will have a problem with attempting an acetone wash, these sugars are not as soluble in acetone as you'd like.

Another option would be to use a very small amount of hot ethanol to get rid off most of the sorbitol, but you'll also lose a bit of codeine.

Actually you'd lose a lot of codeine. Codeine phosphate is very soluble in hot alcohols.

Acid base extraction is your only hope...