Analysis of buprenorphine in whole blood using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

With buprenorphine use on the rise it has become more important than ever for the forensic laboratory to be capable of analyzing for it. Described is the approach used by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for the screening and confirmation of buprenorphine in whole blood by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS), along with case reviews for the first 2 months of method implementation. Screening by LC-MS-MS is capable of identifying buprenorphine cases at concentrations as low as 1-2 µg/L. Confirmatory testing is performed on both indicatively screened samples and cases where buprenorphine is specifically requested. Confirmatory analysis by LC-MS-MS has a limit of detection and limit of quantitation of 0.75 µg/L with estimated uncertainties of 7.2% at 1 µg/L, 3.5% at 10 µg/L and 4.8% at 20 µg/L based on a 95% confidence interval, with the highest percent coefficient of variation being 3.7% for the 1 µg/L level. Since its implementation, the laboratory has reported out nine cases for buprenorphine. Seven of those cases were detected by the initial screen and two were identified by a specific request for buprenorphine. The cases' average concentration was 4.25 µg/L with a mode of 3.1 µg/L.