TY - JOUR
T1 - Identification and quantification of synthetic cathinones in blood and urine using liquid chromatography-quadrupole/time of flight (LC-Q/TOF) mass spectrometry
AU - Glicksberg, Lindsay
AU - Bryand, Kelsie
AU - Kerrigan, Sarah
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2016/11/1
Y1 - 2016/11/1
N2 - Synthetic cathinones continue to present a formidable challenge to forensic toxicology laboratories despite the fact that they are often encountered in impaired driving and death investigations. Due to limitations in immunoassay-based screening technologies, many forensic toxicology laboratories must rely on more labor intensive chromatographic-based screening approaches in order to detect these drugs in biological evidence. Solid phase extraction (SPE) and liquid chromatography-quadrupole/time of flight (LC-Q/TOF) mass spectrometry were used to identify twenty-two synthetic cathinones in urine and blood. Target drugs included methcathinone, ethcathinone, pentedrone, buphedrone, 3-fluoromethcathinone (3-FMC), 4-fluoromethcathinone (4-FMC), 4-methylethcathinone (4-MEC), 4-ethylmethcathinone (4-EMC), mephedrone, methedrone, 3,4-dimethylmethcathinone (3,4-DMMC), ethylone, butylone, pentylone, eutylone, methylone, methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV), 4-methylpyrrolidinobutiophenone (MPBP), 3,4-methylenedioxypyrrolidinobutiophenone (MDPBP), α-pyrrolidinopentiphenone (α-PVP), pyrovalerone, and naphyrone. A total of nine deuterated internal standards were employed. Using traditional reversed phase chromatography all positional isomers, including 3-FMC and 4-FMC, were separated in 12 min. The procedure was validated in accordance with the Scientific Working Group for Forensic Toxicology (SWGTOX) Standard Practices for Method Validation. Extraction efficiencies were 84–104% and 81–93% in urine and blood, respectively. Limits of quantitation in both matrices were 0.25–5 ng/mL. Precision, bias and matrix effect were all within acceptable thresholds and the assay was free from more than fifty interferences. The validated method was used to identify cathinones in authentic urine case samples (n = 20) and these results highlight important considerations for cathinone stability and the subsequent interpretation of results.
AB - Synthetic cathinones continue to present a formidable challenge to forensic toxicology laboratories despite the fact that they are often encountered in impaired driving and death investigations. Due to limitations in immunoassay-based screening technologies, many forensic toxicology laboratories must rely on more labor intensive chromatographic-based screening approaches in order to detect these drugs in biological evidence. Solid phase extraction (SPE) and liquid chromatography-quadrupole/time of flight (LC-Q/TOF) mass spectrometry were used to identify twenty-two synthetic cathinones in urine and blood. Target drugs included methcathinone, ethcathinone, pentedrone, buphedrone, 3-fluoromethcathinone (3-FMC), 4-fluoromethcathinone (4-FMC), 4-methylethcathinone (4-MEC), 4-ethylmethcathinone (4-EMC), mephedrone, methedrone, 3,4-dimethylmethcathinone (3,4-DMMC), ethylone, butylone, pentylone, eutylone, methylone, methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV), 4-methylpyrrolidinobutiophenone (MPBP), 3,4-methylenedioxypyrrolidinobutiophenone (MDPBP), α-pyrrolidinopentiphenone (α-PVP), pyrovalerone, and naphyrone. A total of nine deuterated internal standards were employed. Using traditional reversed phase chromatography all positional isomers, including 3-FMC and 4-FMC, were separated in 12 min. The procedure was validated in accordance with the Scientific Working Group for Forensic Toxicology (SWGTOX) Standard Practices for Method Validation. Extraction efficiencies were 84–104% and 81–93% in urine and blood, respectively. Limits of quantitation in both matrices were 0.25–5 ng/mL. Precision, bias and matrix effect were all within acceptable thresholds and the assay was free from more than fifty interferences. The validated method was used to identify cathinones in authentic urine case samples (n = 20) and these results highlight important considerations for cathinone stability and the subsequent interpretation of results.
KW - Cathinone
KW - Designer drug
KW - Forensic toxicology
KW - High resolution mass spectrometry
KW - Liquid chromatography mass spectrometry
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jchromb.2016.09.027
DO - 10.1016/j.jchromb.2016.09.027
M3 - Article
C2 - 27697731
AN - SCOPUS:84988962507
SN - 1570-0232
VL - 1035
SP - 91
EP - 103
JO - Journal of Chromatography B: Analytical Technologies in the Biomedical and Life Sciences
JF - Journal of Chromatography B: Analytical Technologies in the Biomedical and Life Sciences
ER -