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Trial analysis of drug profiling by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry to establish the origin of ephedrines used as precursors for illicit production of methamphetamine
Author(s) -
Makino Yukiko,
Urano Yasuteru,
Kaneko Kiyoko
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
rapid communications in mass spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.528
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1097-0231
pISSN - 0951-4198
DOI - 10.1002/rcm.8429
Subject(s) - chemistry , ephedrine , pseudoephedrine , mass spectrometry , isotope ratio mass spectrometry , chromatography , stable isotope ratio , liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry , inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry , analytical chemistry (journal) , isotope dilution , physics , quantum mechanics , neuroscience , biology
Rationale We investigated whether chemical information on the origin of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine (ephedrines) can be acquired by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) as a substitute method for stable isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS), which is not routinely available in forensic laboratories. We examined the characteristic inorganic elemental contaminants of ephedrines as a preliminary study. Methods The stable isotope ratios measured by IRMS analysis are expressed relative to the stable isotope ratios of conventional standards. Referring to the method using validated standard samples in IRMS, we selected a standard sample for acquiring stable isotopic ratio by LC/MS. The abundance ratio of the [M + 2H] + ion to the [M + H] + ion was measured by means of selected ion monitoring. We carried out qualitative analysis of inorganic elements contained in ephedrines produced by different manufacturing methods with ICPMS. Results We found that the ratio of stable isotope ion to molecular ion (stable isotope ratio) of ephedrines could be measured with LC/MS. The stable isotope ratio of ephedrines determined by LC/MS were confirmed to show relatively good correlations with the carbon and hydrogen stable isotope ratios found by IR‐MS. We identified strontium as a characteristic inorganic element contained in ephedrines prepared by the semisynthetic method from molasses, or in the biosynthetic method from ephedra plants. Conclusions Our results suggest that useful chemical information can be obtained by LC/MS, which is easy to carry out, and is generally available in forensic laboratories. It would be worthwhile to investigate the usefulness of stable isotope ratio measurements of Sr in the future.