A novel analytical approach combining solid-phase microextraction (SPME)/gas chromatography ion trap mass spectrometry (GC-IT-MS) was developed for the detection and quantification N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a powerful psychoactive indole alkaloid present in a variety of South American indigenous beverages, such as ayahuasca and vinho da jurema. These particular plant products, often used within a religious context, are increasingly consumed throughout the world following an expansion of religious groups and the availability of plant material over the Internet and high street shops. The method described in the present study included the use of SPME in headspace mode combined GC-IT-MS and included the optimization of the SPME procedure using multivariate techniques. The method was performed with a polydimethylsiloxane/divinylbenzene (PDMS/DVB) fiber in headspace mode (70 min at 60 °C) which resulted in good precision (RSD<8.6%) and accuracy values (71-109%). Detection and quantification limits obtained for DMT were 0.78 and 9.5 mg L(-1), respectively and good linearity (1.56-300 mg L(-1), r(2)=0.9975) was also observed. In addition, the proposed method showed good robustness and allowed for the minimization of sample manipulation. Five jurema beverage samples were prepared in the laboratory in order to study the impact of temperature, pH and ethanol on the ability to extract DMT into solution. The developed method was then applied to the analysis of twelve real ayahuasca and vinho da jurema samples, obtained from Brazilian religious groups, which revealed DMT concentration levels between 0.10 and 1.81 g L(-1).

The consumption of ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic beverage used by indigenous communities in the Amazon, is increasing worldwide due to the expansion of syncretic religions founded in the north of Brazil in the first half of the twentieth century, such as Santo Daime and União do Vegetal. Another example is the jurema wine, a drink that originated from indigenous cultures of the northeast of Brazil. It is currently used for several religious practices throughout Brazil involving urban neo-shamanic rituals and syncretic Brazilian religions, such as Catimbó and Umbanda. Both plant products contain N,N-dimethyltryptamine which requires co-administration of naturally occurring monoamine oxidase inhibitors, for example β-carboline derivatives, in order to induce its psychoactive effects in humans. This review explores the cultural use of tryptamines and β-carbolines and focuses on the analytical techniques that have been recently applied to the determination of these compounds in ayahuasca, its analogues, and the plants used during the preparation of these beverages.

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Ayahuasca is a potent hallucinogenic beverage prepared from Banisteriopsis caapi in combination with other psychoactive plants. N,N-dimethyltryptamine, tryptamine, harmine, harmaline, harmalol, and tetrahydroharmine were quantified in ayahuasca samples using a simple and low-cost method based on SPE and LC with UV diode-array detection. The experimental variables that affect the SPE method, such as type of solid phase and nature of solvent, were optimized. The method showed good linearity (r > 0.9902) and repeatability (RSD < 0.8%) for alkaloid compounds, with an LOD of 0.12 mg/L. The proposed method was used to analyze 20 samples from an ayahuasca cooking process from a religious group located in the municipality of Fortaleza, state of Ceará, Brazil. The results showed that concentrations of the target compounds ranged from 0.3 to 36.7 g/L for these samples.

An extraction method based on solid-phase extraction was developed to determine the major alkaloid components, N,N-dimethyltryptamine, harmine, harmaline, harmalol, and tetrahydroharmine, in ayahuasca using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Coconut charcoal and menthone-thiosemicarbazone polymer were tested as new adsorbent materials. Experiments carried out at levels of 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, and 250 μg mL-1 resulted in recoveries in the ranges 45.3-115.7% for menthone-thiosemicarbazone and 40.6-116.2% for coconut charcoal. The detection and quantification limits ranged from 0.003 to 0.016 μg mL-1 and from 0.009 to 0.043 μg mL-1 , respectively. The method developed was linear over the tested range (0.05-1.0 μg mL-1), with correlation coefficients ranging from 0.9969 to 0.9998. The technique was applied for analysis of the compounds in an ayahuasca sample collected from a religious group located in the city of Fortaleza, obtaining concentrations in the range from 0.3 to 19.3 mg mL-1 .

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