Method of purifying crude noscapine

1. A method for separating noscapine from an opium source comprising at least one impurity that undergoes an irreversible color change when exposed to a pH of less than about 5, the method comprising:

(a) contacting the opium source with a first solvent that substantially causes the dissolution of noscapine to form a reaction mixture comprising a pH of greater than about 5; and,

(b) contacting the reaction mixture with a second solvent that reduces the solubility of the noscapine in the reaction mixture without substantially changing the solubility of the impurity such that the noscapine recrystallizes thereby separating the noscapine from the impurity in a manner that does not cause an irreversible color change in the impurity.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first solvent is selected from the group consisting of alkane and substituted alkane solvents, aromatic hydrocarbons, esters, ethers, ketones, and combinations thereof.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first solvent is selected from the group consisting of acetonitrile, acetone, benzene, butanol, butyl acetate, t-butyl methylether, t-butyl methylketone, chlorobenzene, chloroform, chloromethane, cyclohexane, dichloromethane, dichloroethane, diethyl ether, ethyl acetate, fluorobenzene, heptane, hexanes, isobutylmethylketone, isopropyl acetate, methylethylketone, methylisobutylketone, methyltetrahydrofuran, pentyl acetate, n-propyl acetate, tetrahydrofuran, toluene, and combinations thereof; and the second solvent is selected from the group consisting of water, methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, pentanol, and combinations thereof.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the impurity is selected from the group consisting of papaverrubines, glaudine, epiglaudine, oreodine, and combinations thereof.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the papaverrubine is selected from the group consisting of papaverrubine A, papaverrubine B, papaverrubine C, papaverrubine D, papaverrubine E, papaverrubine F, papaverrubine G, epipapaverrubine G, papaverrubine H, and combinations thereof.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the opium source comprises at least one other impurity selected from the group consisting of morphine, oripavine, papaverine, thebaine, codeine, codeine, cryptopine, noscapine analog, narcotoline, nor-noscapine, and combinations thereof.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the opium source is selected from the group consisting of poppy straw, concentrated poppy straw, opium, crude noscapine, and crude narcotine.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the noscapine crystals remain a tan color before and after separation from the opium source.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the concentration of noscapine in the reaction mixture in step (a) ranges between about 10% to about 90% of the solubility limit of noscapine in the first solvent; and the amount of the second solvent contacted with the reaction mixture is sufficient to reduce the solubility of the noscapine in the reaction mixture by a factor of at least about 10% or less of the solubility of the reaction mixture before contacting the second solvent.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein step (a) of the method is conducted at a temperature ranging between about 50° C. and the boiling point of the first solvent, and step (b) is conducted at a temperature ranging between about 20° C. and the eutectic temperature of the combined first solvent and second solvent from step (b).

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second solvent is miscible with the first solvent.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:

(a) filtering the crystallized noscapine; and,

(b) rinsing the filtered noscapine product with a rinse solvent.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the rinse solvent is a mixture of water and a second rinse solvent selected from the group consisting of methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, pentanol, acetonitrile, acetone, and combinations thereof.

14. A method for separating noscapine from an opium source comprising at least one impurity that undergoes an irreversible color change when exposed to a pH of less than about 5, the method comprising:

(a) contacting the opium source with a first solvent selected from the group consisting of acetone, acetonitrile, and combinations thereof to form a reaction mixture having a pH of greater than about 5; and,

(b) contacting the reaction mixture with water such that the noscapine recrystallizes thereby separating the noscapine from the impurity.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein step (a) of the method is conducted at a temperature ranging between about 40° C. and about 60° C.; step (b) is conducted at a temperature of between about 0° C. and about 25° C.; the concentration of noscapine in the reaction mixture in step (a) ranges between about 10% and about 20% by weight; and the amount of water added to the reaction mixture in step (b) is essentially equal to the volume of the first solvent in the reaction mixture.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the opium source is concentrated poppy straw.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the method further comprises filtering the reaction mixture from step (b).

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein the impurity is selected from the group consisting of papaverrubines, glaudine, epiglaudine, oreodine, and combinations thereof.

19. The method of claim 14 , wherein the opium source further comprises at least one other impurity selected from the group comprising morphine, oripavine, papaverine, thebaine, codeine, codeine, cryptopine, noscapine analog, narcotoline, nor-noscapine, and combinations thereof.

20. The method of claim 14 , wherein the noscapine crystals comprise a purity of at least 98% noscapine by weight; and noscapine crystals comprise a yield of at least 80% of the noscapine by weight of the opium source.