SOFT 2004 Meeting Abstracts - Society of Forensic Toxicologists

MIO
QUANTIFICATION OF AMPHETAMINE AND METHAMPHETAMINE ENANTIOMERS IN
HAIR SPECIMENS BY GC-MSINCI
Liliane Martins!, Michel Yegles 1 , Heesun Chung 2 , Robert Wennig l *: I Laboratoire National de Sante,
Toxicologie, CRP-Sante, Universite du Luxembourg and 2 National Institute of Scientific Investigation,
Seoul, Korea
Introduction: Enantioselective separation of amphetamines is of great importance in clinical and forensic
toxicology, as the S-(+)-enantiomers of methamphetamine (MA) and amphetamine (AM) are known to be
considerably more stimulant than the R-(-) isomers. The determination of their respective enatiomeric
ratios allows the distinction between legal intake and illicit MA and/or AM consumption.
A method describing the chiral separation of AM and MA after derivatisation with S-(-)­
heptafluorobutyrylprolyl chloride (S-HFBPCI) and quantification by gas chromatography coupled to mass
spectrometry operating in the negative-ion chemical ionization mode (GC-MSINCI), has already been
applied to serum, urine and oral fluid. In the present study the previous method was modified to be suitable
for abusers' hair analysis.
Material and methods: Hair specimens were obtained from I I Korean suspected MA abusers. After
digestion with 1 M sodium hydroxide at 100°C during 30 min, followed by solid phase extraction using
Cleanscreen ZDAU and derivisation with S-HFBPCI, the enantiomers were quantified by GC-MSINCI
using deuterated internal standards were operated. Extraction yields varied between 88.5 and 100 %, LODs
were 10.6 and 2.2 pglmg hair for MA and AM respectively.
Results: Concentration ranges of 25.2 to lOlA ng/mg hair for MA and 0.69 to 4.54 nglmg hair for AM
were observed. For 2 specimens, only the S-(+)-enantiomer was detected, for 8 specimens the RlS ratio was
< I (0.17 - 0.59 for MA and 0.12 - 0.3 I for AM), whereas for one specimen a RlS ratio of 10.1 and 1.2 was
determined for MA and AM respectively.
Conclusions: Similar to serum, urine and saliva, our results point out the predominance of the S-(+)­
enantiomer in hair. In one case the R-(-)-MA concentration was higher than the S-(+)-enantiomer. This
may be due to the consumption of prescription drugs either containing R-(-)-MA or biotransformed to R-(­
)-MA. The present study shows that hair analysis of amphetamines' enantiomers may be helpful to avoid
misinterpretation in the discrimination between prescription drug use and illegal drug consumption.
Keywords: Hair analysis, Enantioselective Separation, Amphetamines
Page 293