Gas chromatographic determination of cocaine and its metabolites in blood and urine from cocaine users in northwestern Spain

• Published in: Journal of applied toxicology 2004-07, Vol.24 (4), p.283-287
• Main Authors: Fernández, P., Buján, L., Bermejo, A. M., Tabernero, M. J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: benzoylecgonine; Biological and medical sciences; blood; cocaine; Cocaine - blood; Cocaine - metabolism; Cocaine - urine; Cocaine-Related Disorders - blood; Cocaine-Related Disorders - diagnosis; Cocaine-Related Disorders - mortality; Cocaine-Related Disorders - urine; derivatization; Drug addictions; ecgonine methyl ester; Female; Flame Ionization; GC/FID; General aspects. Methods; Humans; intoxications; Male; Medical sciences; Neuropharmacology; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Psychoanaleptics: cns stimulant, antidepressant agent, nootropic agent, mood stabilizer..., (alzheimer disease); Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopharmacology; Sensitivity and Specificity; solid-phase extraction; Spain - epidemiology; Substance Abuse Detection - methods; Toxicology; urine
• ISSN: 0260-437X; 1099-1263
• DOI: 10.1002/jat.994

A gas chromatographic method with flame ionization detection (GC/FID) was developed for the determination of cocaine and its metabolites in blood and urine samples from cocaine users in Northwestern Spain. After a solid‐phase extraction with Bond Elut Certify cartridges and a derivatization with bis‐trimethylsilyltrifluoroacetamide–trimethylchlorosilane (1%), calibration curves were constructed over 0.4–4 µg ml−1 for urine and 0.1–2 µg ml−1 for blood, using proadifen as the reference compound. The average extraction recoveries were 75% for urine and 78% for blood. The limits of detection and quantitation were 0.071 and 0.24 µg ml−1, respectively. Coefficients of variation were