United States Department of Transportation
i
Simultaneous Determination of Cocaine, Cocaethylene, and Their Possible Pentafluoropropylated Metabolites and Pyrolysis Products by Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry
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2003-12-01
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[PDF-420.73 KB]
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Abstract:During the investigations of fatal transportation accidents, samples from victims are also analyzed for drugs, including cocaine (COC). COC is abused by smoking, nasal insufflantion, and intravenous injection, and it is also taken with ethanol. Therefore, it is important to determine concentrations of COC and its metabolites, ethanol analogs, and pyrolysis products for establishing the degree of toxicity, the possible ingestion of ethanol, and the possible route of administration. In this study, a sensitive and selective procedure is developed for the simultaneous analyses of COC, benzoylecgonine, norbenzoylecgonine, norcocaine, ecgonine, ecgonine methyl ester, m-hydroxybenzoylecgonine, anhydroecgonine methyl ester (AEME), anhydroecgonine (AECG), cocaethylene, norcocaethylene, and ecgonine ethyl ester in blood, urine, and muscle homogenate. In the analysis, available deuterated analogs of these analytes were used as internal standards. Proteins from blood and muscle homogenate were precipitated with cold acetonitrile. After the removal of acetonitrile by evaporation, the supernatants and urine were extracted by solid-phase chromatography. The eluted analytes were converted to hydrochloride salts and derivatized with pentafluoropropionic anhydride and 2,2,3,3,3-pentafluoro-1-propanol. The derivatized products were analyzed on a gas chromatograph (GC)/mass spectrometer system by selected ion monitoring. This method was successfully applied in analyzing 13 case specimens from aviation accident pilot fatalities and/or motor vehicle operators. AEME concentrations found in the 13 specimens were consistent with those produced solely by the GC inlet pyrolysis of COC controls, suggesting that COC was not abused in these cases by smoking. Although AEME remains a potential marker for establishing the abuse of COC by smoking, AECG was not a useful marker because of its low recovery and GC inlet production from COC metabolites. The developed procedure is unique because multiple analytes can be analyzed in urine, blood, and solid tissues by a single extraction with increased sensitivity through formation of hydrochloride salts and using a one-step derivatization.
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