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Research Article Volume 4 Issue 3
Methadone extraction by modified QuEChERS and liquid-liquid extraction from post-mortem urine by GC-MS
Seyed Majid Salimi Asl, Mohammad Javad Khodayarm, Seyedeh Zahra Mousavi, Maryam Akhgari
Received: January 01, 1971 | Published: December 21, 2017
Citation: Asl SMS, Khodayar MJ, Mousavi Z, et al. Methadone extraction by modified QuEChERS and liquid-liquid extraction from post-mortem urine by GC-MS. MOJ Addict Med Ther. 2017;4(3):177-180. DOI: 10.15406/mojamt.2017.04.00077
Abstract
Background:Methadone abuse in drug addiction centers and increased methadone consumption among addicts is a new cause of mortality due to substance abuse in forensic medicine. The usual method of extracting urine from corpses in most legal centers is a long and costly method of liquid-liquid extraction, which in addition to the high consumption of solvents and environmental contamination causes severe damage to the column of laboratory analysis devices. As a result, QuEChERS extraction method was proposed as an easy, fast, cheap and green way.
Objectives:In this paper, the results of methadone extracted from the urine after death using Liquid-Liquid extraction and modified QuEChERS method were compared.
Method:Liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) by acidifying the urine sample with Hcl and separating the organic phase at an alkaline pH, with a Chloroform and Isopropanol solvent. The QuEChERS extraction method is a simple and fast tube method using MgSO4 and NaCl salts and ethyl acetate solvent, and ultimately detects with GCMS.
Result:The recovery level of methadone of urine sample was obtained equal to 78% (N=15) in QuEChERS method and equal to 55% (N=15) in LLE method. In this center, LOD and LOQ of methadone was determined using GC-MS device equal to 29.1ng/ml and 97.3ng/ml, respectively. According to the obtained results, there was significant difference between QuEChERS and LLE methods in the term of methadone test in post-mortem urine.
Conclusion:Cheap, fast, effective, and green QuEChERS improved with better recovery could replace the LLE method in detecting methadone in post-mortem urine samples.
Keywords: QuEChERS, Methadone, Post-mortem urine, Addiction, Extraction, Spectrometry, Chromatography, Cross-reactivity, Toxicology, Decomposition, Fertilizers, Acetonitrile, Dehydrogenation, Diagnosis, Methanol, Ammonia, Chloroform, Isopropanol, Validation, Carcinogenesis
©2017 Asl, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially.