title: A safer methylation procedure with boron trifluoride-methanol reagent for gas chromatographic analysis of ritalinic acid in urine.
abstract: Ritalinic acid (RITA), the major metabolite of methylphenidate (Ritaline) is extracted with a solid-phase C8 column. Following elution, methylation of the carboxylic group is performed with boron trifluoride-methanol as a reagent. The methyl ester of RITA which structurally corresponds to the parent compound methylphenidate is reextracted at pH 9-11. Each step of the analytical method has been systematically studied, particularly the parameters governing the esterification reaction with BF3-methanol. The recovery from the overall method is 96%. The limit of detection is 0.05 micrograms ml-1 with GC-NPD for a 10-ml urine sample. The method has been successfully applied to the detection and quantitation of RITA in urine specimens. The specificity of the methylated RITA peak has been verified by GC-MS in scan mode. Use of diazomethane or sulphuric acid is thus replaced by the use of a less hazardous reagent.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Drug Analysis, Institute of Occupational Health Sciences, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vu-Duc
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vernay
mesh_terms: D001880:Boranes / Q000737:chemistry*; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D006801:Humans; D007202:Indicators and Reagents / Q000737:chemistry; D000432:Methanol / Q000737:chemistry*; D008745:Methylation; D008774:Methylphenidate / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000652:urine; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D001880:Boranes; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D008774:Methylphenidate; C021274:boron trifluoride; C009189:ritalinic acid; D000432:Methanol