Automated fast procedure for the simultaneous extraction of hair sample performed with an automated workstation

An ocfentanil‐related death case: UHPLC–MS/MS analysis of the drug

“…After decontamination with 3 mL dichloromethane, proximal (0–1.5 cm) and distal (1.5–3 cm) hair sections were reduced in short cuts (2–4 mm) and dried. Hair extraction and analysis by GC–MS was performed in accordance to an internal validated procedure in particular for the determination of fentanyl and new fentanyl derivatives, such as norfentanyl, acetyl fentanyl, fentanyl, sufentanyl, noralfentanyl, alfentanyl, mefentanyl, carfentanyl, lofentanyl, furanyl fentanyl, n‐benzyl phenyl norfentanyl, remifentanyl, thiofentanyl, valerylfentanyl, mirefentanyl, benzylcarfentanil, acrylfentanyl and buprenorphine.…”

“…An aliquot of diluted tissue (500 μL) and liquid specimens such as cardiac and femoral blood (500 μL), urine (50 μL), and bile (20 μL) was added by 5 μL IS (remifentanil 1 μg/mL) and 2 mL of acetate buffer solution at pH 4 under vortex‐mixed agitation. After centrifugation, the upper layer was extracted following a previous validated procedure . The organic phase was evaporated to dryness with a gentle stream of nitrogen and the residue was dissolved with methanol (100 μL).…”

Workplace Drug Testing

“…In our experience the issue of the interpretation regarding external contamination is rare except in those individuals dealing in drugs and heavy users. Methods involving gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) usually do require sample cleanup, generally by traditional solid-phase extraction (SPE), but alternative procedures have been described such as SPE-microextraction like hollow fiber liquidphase microextraction (HF-LPME), headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME), or matrix solid-phase dispersion (MSPD) [71,75,80,91]. This was confirmed in a study of the 47 hair samples from crack cocaine users that showed levels of cocaine at a maximum ratio of 9% [90].…”

Comprehensive automation of the solid phase extraction gas chromatographic mass spectrometric analysis (SPE-GC/MS) of opioids, cocaine, and metabolites from serum and other matrices

“…In recent years, in conjunction with very sensitive and selective mass spectrometers, protein precipitation alone [1] or “dilute and shoot” methods [2, 3] were also used whereat these methods may suffer from sample-dependent matrix effects able to compromise the accuracy of the results. Although the number of LC-MS/MS methods is rapidly increasing [4–7], gas chromatography (GC)-mass spectrometry (MS)/(MS) is still the standard routine analysis instrument in many forensic laboratories [4, 8–10]. …”

“…The compounds were analyzed from different matrices like urine [9, 28, 29], whole blood, serum, plasma [5, 9, 7], saliva [6], hair [8], or post-mortem samples [17]. In this study, a completely automated SPE-GC/MS method was developed from a validated, partly automated (SPE) analysis method.…”