Analysis of cocaine and three of its metabolites in hair by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry using ion-trap detection for CI/MS/MS

J Chromatogr B Analyt Technol Biomed Life Sci. 2005 Nov 5;826(1-2):17-25. doi: 10.1016/j.jchromb.2005.07.043. Epub 2005 Aug 24.

Abstract

A sensitive GC/CI/MS/MS method was developed for the simultaneous determination of cocaine (COC), anhydroecgonine methylester (cocaine pyrolysis product, AEME), ecgonine methylester (cocaine enzymatic hydrolysis product, EME) and cocaethylene (cocaine with ethanol trans-esterification product, COET) in human hair samples. After acid hydrolysis, hair samples were extracted with an automated solid phase extraction (SPE). The analysis of cocaine and its three metabolites was performed using an ion-trap spectrometer in positive chemical ionization with isobutane as gas reagent. The procedure was validated. Weighted linear regression was found appropriate in a concentration range of 0.10-5.00 ng/mg for AEME, 0.05-5.00 ng/mg for COC, EME and COET. The limit of detection was estimated at 0.005 ng/mg for COC and COET, at 0.025 ng/mg for EME, and at 0.050 ng/mg for AEME. Method performance was evaluated in terms of trueness and precision using quality control (QC) samples over the investigated ranges. Method selectivity and robustness were also demonstrated.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study
  • Validation Study

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Calibration
  • Cocaine / analogs & derivatives
  • Cocaine / analysis*
  • Cocaine / metabolism*
  • Female
  • Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / methods*
  • Hair / chemistry*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sensitivity and Specificity

Substances

  • anhydroecgonine methyl ester
  • cocaethylene
  • Cocaine
  • ecgonine methyl ester