title: Impurity profiling of ephedrines in methamphetamine by high-performance liquid chromatography.
abstract: Separation of the enantiomers and diastereomers of ephedrines was investigated for impurity profiling of methamphetamine. We describe a method for the analysis of (1S,2R)-(+)-ephedrine, (1R,2S)-(-)-ephedrine, (1S,2S)-(+)-pseudoephedrine and racemic methylephedrine in bulk methamphetamine by HPLC using two different columns: a phenyl-beta-cyclodextrin-type column and an ODS-type column. The analytes were detected by UV absorbance measurement at 210 nm. As little as 0.05% of each ephedrine in bulk methamphetamine could be determined. In the impurity profiling of methamphetamine, the identification of ephedrines may provide valuable information about the precursor. This method was confirmed to be sufficiently sensitive to identify trace amounts of (1R,2S)-(-)-ephedrine and (1S,2S)-(+)-pseudoephedrine in bulk methamphetamine synthesized by the Emde method.
authors.affiliation: Narcotics Control Department, Kanto-Shin'etu Bureau of Health and Welfare, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yukiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Makino
authors.forename: Yasuteru
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Urano
authors.forename: Tetsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nagano
mesh_terms: D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D004809:Ephedrine / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008694:Methamphetamine / Q000737:chemistry*; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet
chemical_list: D008694:Methamphetamine; D004809:Ephedrine