Rapid screening for 100 basic drugs and metabolites in urine using cation exchange solid-phase extraction and...

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Forensic Toxicology

Background:

• Accurate identification of basic drugs in urine is crucial for drug screening and forensic analysis.
• Existing methods for basic drug extraction can be time-consuming and less effective for certain compounds.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a robust method for the isolation and identification of basic drugs in urine.
• To compare the performance of the developed method against existing liquid-liquid extraction techniques.

Main Methods:

• Cation exchange solid-phase extraction (SPE) coupled with gradient elution high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and diode array detection (DAD).
• Analysis of over 100 basic drugs, including common urinary screening targets and illicit substances.
• Comparative study with liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) followed by capillary gas chromatography (GC).

Main Results:

• The SPE-HPLC-DAD method successfully identified at least 100 basic drugs commonly found in urine.
• Recoveries for 30 studied compounds were close to 100%, demonstrating high efficiency.
• The method proved as effective as LLE/GC for most basic drugs and superior for challenging compounds like morphine and oxazepam.

Conclusions:

• The developed SPE-HPLC-DAD system provides a simple, convenient, and effective approach for basic drug analysis in urine.
• Solid-phase extraction offers advantages over traditional methods, including reduced sample handling and elimination of glassware.
• This method enhances the capabilities of urinary drug screening and forensic toxicology.