Micellar electrokinetic chromatographic screening method for common sexual assault drugs administered in beverages.
Recently, much attention has been given to benzodiazepines and gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) related compounds owing to their alleged widespread use as date-rape drugs. Toxicologists would greatly benefit from a screening method that allows for the simultaneous detection of both groups of substances. A new capillary electrophoresis (CE) method has been developed in the micellar mode to accomplish this separation in under 16 min using a sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)/sodium tetraborate/boric acid buffer with an acetonitrile organic modifier. Optimization of SDS and organic modifier concentration, along with pH, were performed on a set of standards containing eight benzodiazepines, GHB, gamma-butyrolactone, and the internal standard, sulfanilic acid. The method was shown to have a detection limit of less than 2 microg/ml for five out of eight benzodiazepines with a linear range of 2.5-100 microg/ml. The detection limit for GHB was 32 mg/ml with a linear range to 2500 microg/ml. This method was applied to the rapid analysis of spiked beverages. GHB spiked beverages were monitored after using a series of simple dilutions to determine the effects of time on the drug analysis. Possible interfering peaks from drugs of abuse and artifacts from a variety of different drink combinations were also studied in detail. A one-step liquid-liquid extraction was the only necessary sample pretreatment.
Bishop
Sandra C
SC
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, 136 Clippinger Laboratories, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701, USA.
Lerch
Margaret
M
McCord
Bruce R
BR
D001569:Benzodiazepines / Q000737:chemistry*; D001628:Beverages / Q000032:analysis*; D020374:Chromatography, Micellar Electrokinetic Capillary / Q000379:methods*; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D006885:Hydroxybutyrates / Q000737:chemistry*; D015394:Molecular Structure; D012742:Sex Offenses; D012967:Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate; D013501:Surface-Active Agents
D006885:Hydroxybutyrates; D013501:Surface-Active Agents; D001569:Benzodiazepines; C111420:4-hydroxybutyric acid; D012967:Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate