Single-calibrant quantification of seized synthetic opioids by liquid chromatography-chemiluminescence nitrogen detection

Abstract

Drug seizures involving a wide variety of emerging new psychoactive substances (NPS) call for new approaches for instant quantification and valuation. Liquid chromatography–chemiluminescence nitrogen detection (LC–CLND) was used in the quantification of opioids with a single secondary standard (caffeine), utilizing the detector's equimolar response to nitrogen. The mean N-equimolarity of CLND for ten fentanyl derivatives and U-47700 by the present LC–CLND method was 96.4% (range 91–101%). The furanylfentanyl samples consisted of 112 powdery samples with a mean (median, range) hydrochloride purity of 13% (4.9%, 0.08–100%). The purity distribution of the furanylfentanyl samples was distinctly bipartite, showing only lower than 9% (N=98) and higher than 60% (N=14) purities. The carfentanil samples consisted of eight brownish sticky samples with a mean (median, range) hydrochloride purity of 0.064% (0.063%, 0.052–0.092%). The U-47700 samples consisted of seven powdery samples with a mean (median, range) hydrochloride purity of 89.0% (100%, 51–100%). The present application to synthetic opioid analysis widens the scope of the established LC-CLND method, previously found useful for single-calibrant quantification of stimulant/hallucinogenic and cannabinoid type of NPS.