Development of a LC-MS/MS Method for the Determination of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances in Human Hair

Narcotic drug use is an important problem in our country and all over the world. Hair is a valuable specimen for monitoring these long-term drug uses. For this purpose, a sensitive method was created and validated for the identification and quantification of benzoylecgonine (, morphine, codeine, ۶-monoacetylmorphine, heroin, tetrahydrocannabinol, amphetamine, ۳,۴-methylenedioxyamphetamine, buprenorphine, methamphetamine, ۳,۴-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine, and cocaine in human hair by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The sample preparation step includes washing, standard addition, liquid-phase extraction with methanol, and solid-phase extraction steps. Analysis for substances identified from a pretreated hair took a maximum of ۳.۶۴ minutes. In the method, the LOD values of each substance ranged from ۰.۱۱-۰.۸۷ ng/mg, and the linearity was quite good (r۲>۰.۹۹). The concentration ranges for quantification were ۰.۵۰ and ۸.۰۰ng/mg for all substances. In addition, the intraday and interday accuracy and precision values of this method were acceptable (˂۱۲.۸۱%) and the recovery was found to be between ۹۳.۷۲%-۱۰۴.۷۸% at different concentrations. The results of this study showed that the developed very fast and reliable LC-MS/MS method is suitable for use as a validated method in the analysis of illicit drugs simultaneously in hair.

Keywords:

Narcotic drug , Psychotropic substance , hair , LC-MS/MS , Method Validation