A method for the toxicological screening of the new designer drug methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) is described; with an emphasis on its application for anti-doping analysis. The metabolism of MDPV was evaluated in vitro using human liver microsomes and S9 cellular fractions for CYP450 phase I and uridine 5'-diphosphoglucuronosyltransferase (UGT) and sulfotransferase (SULT) phase II metabolism studies. The resulting metabolites were subsequently liquid/liquid extracted and analyzed using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) as trimethylsilyl (TMS) derivatives. The structures of the metabolites were further confirmed by accurate mass measurement using a liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight (LC/QTOF) mass spectrometer. The studies demonstrated that the main metabolites of MDPV are catechol and methyl catechol pyrovalerone, which are in turn sulfated and glucuronated. The method for the determination of MDPV in urine has been fully validated by assessing the limits of detection and quantification, linearity, repeatability, and accuracy. This validation demonstrates the suitability for screening of this stimulant substance for anti-doping and forensic toxicology purposes.
This paper describes the application of solid-phase microextraction (SPME) to cannabis testing in hair. Fifty milligrams of hair was washed with petroleum ether, hydrolyzed with NaOH, neutralized, deuterated internal standard was added and directly submitted to SPME. The SPME was analyzed by GC-MS. The limit of detection was 0.1 ng/mg for cannabinol (CBN) and AP-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and 0.2 ng/mg for cannabidiol (CBD). ]~HC was detected in a range spanning from 0.1 to 0.7 ng/mg. CBD concentrations ranged from 0.7 to 14.1 ng/mg, and CBN concentrations ranged from 0.4 to 0.7 ng/mg. The effectiveness of different decontamination procedures was also studied on passively contaminated hair. The proposed method is also suitable for the analysis of methadone in hair; cocaine and cocaethylene can be detected in hair with SPME extraction after enzymatic hydrolysis.
The identification of NPSs in confiscated materials was successfully achieved via GC/MS coupled with LC/HRMS and, in a few cases, NMR analyses. The availability of GC/MS libraries is of great assistance in the identification of new drugs. Alternatively, the study of characteristic molecule fragments combined with the determination of their accurate masses can be a useful approach to identify unknown samples not previously analysed.
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