Determination Of Synthetic Cannabinoids Research Articles

Determination of synthetic cannabinoids in oral fluids by liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection after solid-phase extraction

Synthetic cannabinoids are one of the most consumed new psychoactive substances, being absolutely necessary the development of analytical methodologies for the determination of these substances in biological fluids. In this study, a liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (LC-FD) method has been developed for the analysis of 8 synthetic cannabinoids in oral fluids. The method has been validated in terms of linearity, precision and extraction recoveries, giving limits of detection as low as 0.7 µg L−1, and limits of quantification of 2.6 µg L−1. Different silica and polymeric commercial solid sorbents such as C18, Supel-Select HLB, EB2 ExtrabondⓇ and SampliQ-OPT were tested, concluding that Supel-Select HLB provided quantitative recoveries for the extraction of synthetic cannabinoids in oral fluids.•Analysis of synthetic cannabinoids in oral fluids.•Analytical procedure based on liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection.•Sample treatment based on solid phase extraction with HLB cartridges.

Determination of synthetic cannabinoids in randomly urine samples collected from probationers in Turkey

Synthetic cannabinoids are a significant public health and safety problem that complicates drug tests with their ever-changing structures in our country and worldwide. The fact that most synthetic cannabinoids cannot be detected in biological samples by routine drug of abuse screening tests also causes an increase in the use of these substances in return. In this study, 500 urine samples of randomly selected probationers, analyzed with an enzymatic immunoassay test at Ege University Institute of Drug Addiction, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Sciences (BATI) and tested negative, were then selected for retrospective analysis. Synthetic cannabinoids and their metabolites were quantitatively scanned in the collected urine samples via the liquid-liquid extraction method with the LC-MS/MS. Of the 500 studied urine samples, 108 (21.6%) were positive for 20 synthetic cannabinoids and their metabolites. The two most detected synthetic cannabinoids were 5F-NPB-22 (58%) and (S)-AB-FUBINACA (36%), and their mean concentrations were 72.94 ± 47.51 ng/mL and 5.84 ± 14.7 ng/mL, respectively. These results were also compared with national statistics from the general population. It resulted that immunoassay screening tests used in this study were insufficient, and urine samples should be studied in clinical and forensic cases with a validated chromatographic method.

Assessment of measurement uncertainty using longitudinal calibration data in the forensic context

Suppose that results of the scientific literature were presented in courts the same way they are presented in publications. In the present investigation, it is assumed that this is the case, and it is shown that it may potentially lead to issues with results that are being presented to the court. The determination of synthetic cannabinoids at low concentrations in blood, urine and other matrices is challenging to forensic science. Methods based upon the separation of the compounds by HPLC and detection by tandem mass spectrometry provides results at ultra-low concentrations. The uncertainty of measurements has become the key parameter of interest for decision making, and expert witnesses need to state the correct level of uncertainty. Recent developments in quality assurance indicate issues with reliability, owing to contradictory statements that originate from different methods of data management and interpretation of results that eventually may lead to compromising the truth. The levels of relative uncertainty of measurement that were close to 5% were found to be unrealistically low when synthetic cannabinoids were analysed at ultra-low concentrations. It was proposed to introduce the principle of pooled calibrations to obtain correspondence between predicted and observed uncertainty, following standards of scientific methodology. Ten synthetic cannabinoids were analysed with pooled calibrations, and the results indicated that the uncertainty of measurement was found at levels much higher than expected, and with two out of ten synthetic cannabinoids that were impossible to quantify with relative uncertainties reaching levels over 70%.

Determination of methadone and eight new psychoactive substances in hair samples by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry

Many new psychoactive substances (NPSs) with different chemical structures have emerged in the illicit drug market in the last decade. The present work was aimed at the development of a simple method in gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (MS) for the determination of NPS of different classes, the use of cannabinoids, and, at the same time, the evaluation of methadone therapy in hair matrix, within our routine analysis control for methadone treatment or from autopsy cases. The determination of synthetic cannabinoids and methadone therapy used an extraction method based on incubation in concentrated sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution, providing a dissolution of the keratin matrix. The described method was applied on 15 authentic specimens from our cases: five showed the presence of methadone and 2-ethylidene-1,5-dimethyl-3,3-diphenylpyrrolidine (EDDP). The described method can be useful not only in the forensic investigation of NPS-related addiction histories but also in epidemiological and retrospective studies on the spread of NPS among specific safety-sensitive social workers. The GC instrument was an Agilent 7820A (Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA, USA), and the detection system was an Agilent 5977B single quadrupole MS operating in selective ion monitoring mode. Validation parameters such as limit of detections (LODs), limit of quantifications (LOQs), repeatability, accuracy, and linearity were satisfactory for its application on real specimens. LODs, LOQs, R%CV, standard deviation, and the mean concentration for the analyzed compounds are reported in Table 1b. Accuracy and repeatability were acceptable for all the analytes at their respective LOQs. Recovery experiments varied from 58.3% to 103.0%, thus allowing the application on authentic specimens. The described method can be useful not only in the forensic investigation of NPS-related addiction histories but also in epidemiological and retrospective studies on the spread of NPS among specific safety-sensitive social workers, such as drivers.

An LC-MS/MS method for determination of synthetic cannabinoids in human blood using bidirectional solid-phase extraction

An LC-MS/MS method for determination of synthetic cannabinoids in human blood using bidirectional solid-phase extraction

Nontarget screening of the markers of synthetic cannabinoids in urine using HPLC–MS/MS

A nontarget screening method for the determination of synthetic cannabinoids and their metabolites in biological samples was proposed. It was based on the preservation of the basic structure of the analytes in samples. The two approaches discussed included the identification of known compound metabolites with the aid of high-resolution mass spectra and the target screening of characteristic product ions of the most common classes of psychoactive compounds. The applicability of the proposed approach was examined with the real samples of biological fluids of patients who used synthetic cannabinoids such as AM(N)-2201 and AB-PINACA.