title: Analysis of 11-nor-Δ9 -tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic acid and its glucuronide in urine by capillary electrophoresis/mass spectrometry.
abstract: Δ(9) -Tetrahydrocannabinol is the primary psychoactive component in cannabis, one of the most commonly used illicit drugs in the world. This paper describes a simple and rapid method for direct analysis of major metabolites of Δ(9) -tetrahydrocannabinol; 11-nor-Δ(9) -tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic acid and its glucuronide in urine by capillary electrophoresis/mass spectrometry. The only pretreatment needed for a urine sample was dilution with methanol containing an internal standard and centrifugation. Electrophoresis was carried out in an untreated fused-silica capillary (50 µm i.d. × 85 cm) filled with 40 m m ammonium formate (pH 6.4). An analysis could be completed within 10 min. For both compounds, the assay was linear over the range 0.1-10 µg/mL in urine with correlation coefficients (r(2) ) >0.99 and the limit of detection was 0.5 pg (10 nL injection). The detection yields and reproducibilities were determined at three different concentrations (0.1, 0.5 and 2 µg/mL in urine). The mean detection yields were 60-99%. The intra- and inter-day relative standard deviations of migration times were 0.063-0.19 and 0.18-0.36%, and those of peak areas were 4.2-18 and 5.9-25%, respectively. The proposed method successfully analyzed the urine samples of cannabis users.
authors.affiliation: Forensic Science Laboratory, Ishikawa Prefectural Police Headquarters, 1-1 Kuratsuki, Kanazawa, 920-8553, Japan. iw@mbp.nifty.com
authors.forename: Yoshiaki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Iwamuro
authors.forename: Reiko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Iio-Ishimaru
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chinaka
authors.forename: Nariaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Takayama
authors.forename: Kazuichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hayakawa
mesh_terms: D064753:Ammonium Hydroxide; D013759:Dronabinol / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000652:urine; D019075:Electrophoresis, Capillary / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005561:Formates / Q000737:chemistry; D020719:Glucuronides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000652:urine*; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D006878:Hydroxides / Q000737:chemistry; D057230:Limit of Detection; D008297:Male; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D005561:Formates; D020719:Glucuronides; D006878:Hydroxides; C030544:formic acid; C016780:11-nor-delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic acid; D064753:Ammonium Hydroxide; D013759:Dronabinol