title: Rapid and highly selective GC/MS/MS detection of heroin and its metabolites in hair.
abstract: A direct treatment of methanol-washed hair with a silylating solution is proposed to extract heroin, O-6-monoacetylmorphine, morphine, acetylcodeine, and codeine, obtaining the simultaneous derivatization of the hydroxylated metabolites and reducing potential sample contamination. Analysis is performed by capillary gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC/MS/MS) using multiple selected reaction monitoring. Owing to the selectivity and sensitivity of the GC/MS/MS analysis, and to the extremely simple treatment of the sample, the method fulfils the requirements of both clinical and forensic diagnosis of heroin use.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Polettini
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Groppi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Montagna
mesh_terms: D003061:Codeine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000032:analysis; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry*; D003932:Heroin / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000032:analysis*; D009020:Morphine / Q000032:analysis; D009022:Morphine Derivatives / Q000032:analysis; D009269:Nalorphine / Q000032:analysis; D012016:Reference Values; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000379:methods*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs; D009022:Morphine Derivatives; C053740:acetylcodeine; D003932:Heroin; D009020:Morphine; C026979:6-O-monoacetylmorphine; D009269:Nalorphine; D003061:Codeine