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Single step isolation of sildenafil from commercially available Viagra™ tablets

International Journal of Impotence Research volume 15, pages 369–372 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

Sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra™, ahs been purified from commercially available tablets. The purification, using Sephadex G25 chromatography under conditions of low ionic strength, is simple and inexpensive. Sildenafil purified according to this protocol has been characterized with respect to its IC50 for PDE5, its ultraviolet absorption profile, and by collision-induced dissociation fingerprinting, positive ion nanospray, and MALDI mass spectrometry. Tritated sildenafil (6 Ci/mmol) was prepared commercially using the sildenafil purified by this protocol and was verified to retain the potency of unlabeled sildenafil. This protocol and similar procedures will allow investigators to easily isolate sufficient amounts of sildenafil or other PDE5 inhibitors for conducting biochemical and in vitro studies of drug action.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Lisa Manier and the Vanderbilt University Mass Spectrometry Research Center, the E Bronson Ingram Cancer Center, and the Diabetes Center of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. We also thank Pfizer for providing purified sildenafil to be used as a standard. This work was supported by NIH DK58277 and DK40029.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA

    S H Francis, K Raja Sekhar, A B Rouse, K A Grimes & J D Corbin

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  1. S H Francis
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  2. K Raja Sekhar
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  3. A B Rouse
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  4. K A Grimes
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  5. J D Corbin
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Correspondence to S H Francis.

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Francis, S., Raja Sekhar, K., Rouse, A. et al. Single step isolation of sildenafil from commercially available Viagra™ tablets. Int J Impot Res 15, 369–372 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijir.3901040

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijir.3901040

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