Use of high pressure liquid chromatography for the separation of drugs of abuse

Screening and confirmation of drugs in urine: interference of hordenine with the immunoassays and thin layer chromatography methods

Hordenine cross-reacted with various enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) or radioimmunoassay (RIA) kits used for the screening of urine samples. Morphine-ELISA kit was most sensitive, whereas etorphine- and buprenorphine-ELISA kits were least sensitive to hordenine cross-reactivity. Hordenine also interfered with the thin layer chromatography of oxymorphone, hydromorphone and apomorphine. The major source of hordenine in humans is beer brewed from barley, whereas the major source of hordenine in horses is canary grass or barley. Therefore, the presence of hordenine in the urine of humans consuming beer or in the urine of horses consuming canary grass may give false positive values when the immunoassay and TLC methods are used for the screening of the urine sample. In order to distinguish hordenine from the opiate drugs, simple and sensitive gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric (GC/MS) and high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) methods have been developed in this study.

GLC-mass spectral determination of mescaline in plasma of rabbits after intravenous injection

A GLC-mass spectral analysis with a deuterated internal standard was developed to measure plasma mescaline concentrations after intravenous administration to rabbits. The drug and the internal standard were extracted with benzene, derivatized with trifluoroacetic acid anhydride, and chromatographed on 2.5% QF-1 with mass fragmentographic detection. The detection limit is 5 ng/ml of plasma. The relative standard deviation was approximately 5%. The main advantage of this method is that it combines the specificity of the GLC retention time and mass spectral fragmentation pattern with the sensitivity of the mass fragmentographic detection.

High-performance liquid chromatography of benzodiazepines I: Stability-indicating assay of diazepam tablets

A high-performance liquid chromatographic procedure was developed for diazepam tablet analysis. This procedure separates the manufacturing intermediate, 7-chloro-1,3-dihydro-5-phenyl-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one, and the decomposition products, 3-amino-6-chloro-1-methyl-4-phenylcarbostyril and 2-methylamino-5-chlorobenzophenone, from diazepam. The liquid chromatographic procedure is superior to the USP UV assay because it is stability indicating. The method is simple, accurate, and fast, involving only one extraction step. A reversed-phase column and a methanol-water mobile phase were used. Under these conditions, 0.1% of the decomposition products was detectable. Typical samples of diazepam tablets showed no degradation.

[Analysis of benzodiazepines and their hydrolysis products, benzophenones, by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography and its application to biological material (author's transl)]

Conditions for the routine separation of some benzodiazepines and their hydrolysis products, benzophenones, by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography have been developed. They were applied to the qualitative and quantitative determination of benzodiazepines and benzophenones in biological material, e.g., blood and urine.

Forensic aspects of high-pressure liquid chromatography

This paper reviews the applications of high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) to forensic problems, and discusses some of the developments that have taken place in the use of the technique in the Metropolitan Police Laboratory. Preparation of octadecyltrichlorosilane-modified silica is described and some of the chromatographic characteristics of this material are investigated. Applications of HPLC to the analysis of cannabis, opium alkaloids, amphetamine-related materials, LSD and polynuclear hydrocarbons are described.

High pressure liquid chromatography on cannabis. Identification of separated constituents

Delta9-and-delta8-Tetrahydrocannabinol, delta9-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid, cannabidiol, cannabidolic acid, cannabinol, cannabinolic acid, cannabichromene and cannabichromenic acid were located in the liquid chromatogram of cannabis. Identifications were confirmed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.