Simultaneous determination of succinylcholine and its metabolite in animal‐derived foods by solid‐phase extraction combined with ultra‐performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry

Abstract

Rationale Succinylcholine has been increasingly used in the theft of animals. Because of the presence of residual levels of succinylcholine in poisoned animals, it is harmful for people to eat foods derived from these animals. Therefore, a method should be immediately established to determine succinylcholine and its metabolite in animal‐derived foods. Methods A fast, highly sensitive method, combining solid‐phase extraction (SPE) with ultra‐performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC/ESI‐MS/MS), was developed for the determination of succinylcholine and its metabolite in animal‐derived foods. The sample was initially extracted with heptafluorobutyric acid and then further cleaned up using an SPE cartridge. Succinylcholine and its metabolite were separated using acetonitrile: 0.1% formic acid in 5 mmol L−1 ammonium acetate as the mobile phase. Quantitative results were based on positive ion ESI multiple reaction monitoring mode. Results The results show good linearity over a wide range with correlation coefficients of determination of more than 0.998. Both the limits of detection of succinylcholine and succinylmonocholine are 0.2 μg kg−1. The intra‐ and inter‐day accuracies of the method are in the range 91.4%–104.6%, and the intra‐ and inter‐day precisions are in the range 2.5%–6.6%. Conclusions This method can be used for the determination of succinylcholine as an illicit drug in animal‐derived foods. It was successfully applied to the identification and quantification of succinylcholine and succinylmonocholine in animal‐derived foods collected from a local farmers market in Jilin Province of China.

Development of a simple and reliable method for α‐amanitin detection in rat plasma and its application to a toxicokinetic study

“…A strong signal suppression of α‐amanitin occurred with the signal reducing to 19.7%–22.2%. Solid‐phase extraction was an alternative solution to reduce the matrix effect, but it was highly variable and highly costly in comparison with protein precipitation 19–21 . According to our previous published research, sample dilution has been proved to be an effective solution to eliminate the strong matrix effect of cycloserine (an analogue of the amino acid) 16 .…”

Scale-Up and Development of a One-Step Process for the Synthesis of Succinylcholine

“…The current USP method for succinylcholine employs a reverse phase LC column using an ion-pairing agent coupled with UV detection . Impurity limits are given as not more than (NMT 0.1%) of succinic acid, NMT 0.4% of succinyl monocholine ( 4 ), and NMT 0.4% of an unidentified doublet of impurities.…”

“…It is likely that the original release testing methods were not sufficient to detect all synthetic impurities, especially at the ICH requirement of 0.10% for unspecified impurities. The USP succinylcholine chloride monograph calls for an assay of 96.0–102.0% on an anhydrous basis . Specified impurities include succinic acid (not more than NMT 0.1%), succinyl monocholine (NMT 0.4%), and choline (NMT 0.3%).…”

“…Analysis of SCh with conventional LC-UV is challenging due to its poor UV absorptivity and the presence of two polar quaternary amine functionalities. One approach to address the chromatographic retention and separation of highly polar molecules is the use of ion-paring agents as described in the USP monograph; however, these methodologies can be less robust and are less common with the improvement of modern chromatography technologies. Additionally, SCh is chemically unstable and undergoes gradual hydrolysis, particularly in aqueous solutions.…”