Microwave assisted extraction of drugs of abuse from human urine

Abstract

Microwave assisted extraction (MAE) was used to extract drugs of abuse from urine samples for the simultaneous determination of morphine, codeine, 6-acetylmorphine (6AM), cocaine, cocaethylene, benzoylecgonine (BEG), methadone and 2-ethylidene-1,5-dimethyl-3,3-diphenylpyrrolidine (EDDP) by high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detector (HPLC-DAD). The working wavelengths used were 285 nm for morphine, codeine and 6AM; 233 nm for cocaine, cocaethylene and BEG; and 292 nm for methadone and EDDP. The mobile phase was a gradient of acetonitrile and phosphate buffer at pH 6.5. A full factorial design was used to identify the most suitable extraction conditions as regards pH, solvent and time of extraction. The optimum conditions thus established provided analyte recoveries from 61% to 109%. The detector response was linear over the drug concentration range 0.1-4.0 microg ml(-1) in urine. The within- and between-day precision and accuracy were less than 8% and 6.5%, respectively. The method was applied successfully to samples obtained from Galician hospitals and courts.