Simultaneous Determination of 11 Illicit Phenethylamines in Hair by LC-MS-MS: In Vivo Application.

Abstract

Existing phenethylamines are a class of synthetic compounds that differ from each other only in small changes to a largely conserved chemical structure. The recreational and illicit use of phenethylamines is a widespread problem. A simple procedure for the simultaneous quantitative determination in hair of 11 phenethylamines that are officially recognized as illicit by Italian legislation (p-methoxyamphetamine; p-methoxymethamphetamine; 3,4,5-trimethoxyamphetamine; 2,5-dimethoxyamphetamine; 2,5-dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine; 2,5-dimethoxy-4-ethylamphetamine; 2,5-dimethoxy-4-bromoamphetamine; 2,5-dimethoxy-4-bromophenethylamine; 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenethylamine; 2,5-dimethoxy-4-ethylthiophenethylamine and 2,5-dimethoxy-4-n-propylthiophenethylamine) has been developed and validated. Extraction from the matrix was performed after incubation in methanolic HCl and filtered reconstituted extracts were injected into a liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry system (LC-MS-MS) without any further purification steps. This validated LC-MS-MS method has been used to determine the in vivo accumulation/retention of the above target analytes in hair after repeat oral administration to rats. This experiment further permitted investigation of the effect of pigmentation on the uptake of these phenethylamines by hair and the effect of hair pigmentation. The developed method could potentially be used for forensic and toxicological purposes, in the detection and quantitation of these illicit substances in human hair in workplace drug testing; drug-facilitated crime investigation; driver re-licensing; determining drug abuse history and postmortem toxicology.