GB371550A - Process for purifying physiologically active substances - Google Patents

Abstract

Crude extracts containing cardiac substances are purified by precipitating the active substances with heavy metal compounds such as copper, silver, lead or mercury salts, with or without the addition of other salts such as sodium acetate or magnesium salts, and subsequently removing the precipitant. Examples of the invention are as follows: (1) the mother liquor, remaining after the precipitation of blood-sugar level reducing substances with ammonium sulphate from pancreas extract, is mixed with acetone; 500 c.c. of the aqueous layer which forms is diluted to 2 litres, 100 gms. of sodium acetate and 160 c.c. of 40 per cent sodium bisulphite solution added and the mixture boiled; 10 per cent copper sulphate is then added until no more precipitate forms; the liquid is boiled for three minutes, filtered hot, the precipitate suspended in water, slightly acidified and the copper precipitated with hydrogen sulphide; the filtered solution is evaporated in vacuo and the residue dissolved in water, neutralized and standardized: (2) organic phosphorus-containing substances are removed from the product of (1) by precipitation with magnesia mixture, and the filtrate is treated with excess magnesia mixture and ammoniacal silver nitrate; the precipitate is separated, washed with ammonia, suspended in water, and the silver precipitated with hydrochloric acid; the precipitate is filtered off and the filtrate evaporated in vacuo and redissolved: (3) a mother liquor as in (1) is diluted, precipitated with 10 per cent copper sulphate solution in the presence of sodium acetate and sodium bisulphite, and worked up as in (1): (4) the product of the example of Specification 279,445, [Class 81 (i), Disinfecting &c.], is precipitated with 80 per cent copper sulphate solution in the presence of sodium acetate and sodium bisulphite and further worked up as in (1): (5) the product of example (1) of Specification 335,202, [Class 81 (i), Disinfecting &c.], is treated as in (2) : (6) the product of the process of Specification 359,523 is treated as in (1) : (7) the product of example (1) is treated with solid cuprous chloride while boiling and further worked up as in (1) : (8) the product of the example of Specification 279,445 is rendered slightly ammoniacal and precipitated with 25 per cent lead acetate solution, filtered, and the lead removed from the precipitate, ground in water, by treatment with 20 per cent sulphuric acid; traces of lead are removed from the filtrate with hydrogen sulphide: (9) the product of example (1) of Specification 335,202 is treated with mercuric chloride solution and the mercury removed from the precipitate with hydrogen sulphide. Specifications 306,606 and 306,608, [both in Class 81 (i), Disinfecting &c.], also are referred to.