[Studies on origin of illicit methamphetamine. I. The relationship of enantiomeric compositions between methamphetamine and its raw material (ephedrine)].
In order to elucidate the relationship of enantiomeric compositions between methamphetamine (MA) and its raw materials, ephedrine (EP) enantiomers, commercial EP samples and MA samples prepared from them were analyzed by HPLC using GITC-prelabeling. The GITC derivatives were separated on ODS column using methanol-water-acetic acid (45:54:1) at a flow rate of 1.2 ml/min for EP and tetrahydrofuran-water-acetic acid (29:70:1) at a flow rate of 1 ml/min for MA. The chromatographic conditions resulted in such a good separation of four EP and two MA enantiomers that 1/1000 enantiomeric impurities could be detected and discriminated from the major enantiomer with good reproducibility. Moreover, it was demonstrated that the asymmetric center at alpha-position of amino group was entirely retained throughout the reductive reaction of the EP samples, and that the MA samples inherited the enantiomeric character from the EP samples used. This method was applied to discriminative analysis of MA samples seized in Japan.
Kikura
R
R
Shimamine
M
M
Nakahara
Y
Y
Terao
T
T
D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D004340:Drug Contamination; D004809:Ephedrine / Q000032:analysis*; D008694:Methamphetamine / Q000032:analysis* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013237:Stereoisomerism
D008694:Methamphetamine; D004809:Ephedrine