An Automated Preconcentration–Derivatization System for the Determination of Cocaine and its Metabolites in Urine and Illicit Cocaine Samples by Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry

✍ Scribed by Soledad Cardenas; Mercedes Gallego; Miguel Valcarcel

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 756 KB
• Volume: 10
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0951-4198
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0231(199604)10:6<631::aid-rcm524>3.0.co;2-t

✦ Synopsis

Although gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) is the most powerful technique for analysing cocaine and its hydrolysis products (benzoylecgonine, ecgonine methyl ester and ecgonine) in urine, the sample pretreatment required is rather laborious and involves a large number of steps. This paper reports a continuous method for the separation (based on the retention properties of cocaine and its major metabolites on a reversed phase Cg column), preconcentration (evaporation under nitrogen) and derivatization (colIecion of the residue in a few microlitres of derivatizimg reagent) of cocaine and its metabolites in urine samples for subsequent analysis by GC/MS. Calibration graphs are linear from 5 to 3000 ng/mL; the detection limits are 1 ng/mL (cocaine and ecgonine methyl ester), 20 ng/mL (benzoylecgonine) and 200 ndmL (ecgonine). The method was applied to illicit cocaine samples and to urine from a drug addict.