Pharmacology Possible metatomidine extraction from fentanyl?

[fettywapo]

Is there a reasonably simple way to extract metatomidine from fentanyl or vise versa?
I've searched far and wide lol

 

[Skorpio]

It’s unlikely that there would be a simple separation, unfortunately.

The pKa of metatomidine is 7.2 and the pKa of fentanyl is 8.4. The pKa is the pH where 50% of the molecules are ionized, and 50% aren’t.

At acidic pHs below the pKa (for amine/basic molecules) the molecules will be charged and soluble in polar solvents. Above the pKa and the molecules will be uncharged and soluble in non-polar solvents.

With tight control of pH you can separate compounds that differ in pKa, but for liquid-liquid extractions, which approach the limits of home chemistry, you need at least a difference of 3 pKa units to achieve a safe degree of purification as the closer they are, the more of a mixture it is. Laboratory techniques such as chromatography or counter current extraction could possibly separate these compounds, but these methods require specialized equipment.

 

[fettywapo]

Thank you very much, I didn't think there would be a simple method to do so but I thought I'd ask in the right place anyways.

Thank you for your reply!

Edit: I'm actually surprised i understood what you said with the pKa units and chromatography as I didn't do very good in school and have zero chemistry background other then just reading a few things here and the over there years.