Simple and reliable high-performance liquid chromatography fluorimetric procedure for the determination of amphetamine-derived designer drugs

• Published in: Journal of chromatography. B, Biomedical sciences and applications Vol. 735; no. 2; pp. 243 - 253
• Main Authors: Mancinelli, Rosanna, Gentili, Stefano, Guiducci, Maria S, Macchia, Teodora
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 10.12.1999; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Amphetamines; Amphetamines - chemistry; Biological and medical sciences; Body Fluids - chemistry; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid - methods; Designer Drugs - analysis; Drug addictions; Humans; Medical sciences; Methylenedioxylated amphetamines; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity; Spectrometry, Fluorescence; Toxicology; Amphetamines; Methylenedioxylated amphetamines; Amphetamine derivatives; Biological fluid; Fluorescence detector; Analytical method; HPLC chromatography; Drug of abuse; Quantitative analysis
• ISSN: 0378-4347; 1387-2273
• DOI: 10.1016/S0378-4347(99)00440-5

The paper describes a HPLC–fluorimetric procedure for the determination of methylenedioxyamphetamine, methylenedioxymethamphetamine, methylenedioxyethamphetamine and N-methyl-1-(1,3-benzodioxol-5-yl)-2-butanamine in urine, serum, saliva and street samples, that features interesting advantages over other procedures previously described. The method requires a very small sample volume (100 μl) and no extraction, lacks matrix effect, and is not time consuming. Linearity was in the range 50–1000 ng/ml regardless of matrix. Sensitivity and detection limit were 50 ng/ml and 10 ng/ml, respectively, but they may reach 10 ng/ml and 2 ng/ml if a slight modification is introduced in the procedure. Intra- and inter-day precision were always within 5% and 8%, respectively. Recovery was satisfactory for all matrices. The described procedure could be successfully used for clinical, epidemiological and forensic applications.