title: Simultaneous determination of xylazine, free morphine, codeine, 6-acetylmorphine, cocaine and benzoylecgonine in postmortem blood by UPLC-MS-MS.
abstract: Xylazine, a veterinary sedative, has been found as an adulterant of heroin in street drugs in Puerto Rico. It was found in combination with free morphine and 6-acetylmorphine, codeine, cocaine and benzoylecgonine in postmortem cases at the Puerto Rico Institute of Forensic Sciences (PRIFS). Xylazine is not approved for human use because it has been proven harmful. Currently, three separate analyses are required to determine all the aforementioned drugs at the PRIFS's toxicology laboratory. To reduce analysis time consumption, sample volume, run time, sample preparation and cost, a high-throughput ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method was developed and validated for the simultaneous quantification of xylazine, free morphine, 6-acetylmorphine, codeine, cocaine and benzoylecgonine in 0.25 mL postmortem blood by protein precipitation, fulfilling confirmation criteria with three transitions for each compound with acceptable relative ion intensities. Linearity was established between 10-1,000 ng/mL. Total run time was 2.5 min. Limit of detection was 1 ng/mL for cocaine and xylazine, 2 ng/mL for 6-acetylmorphine and 10 ng/mL for free morphine, codeine and benzoylecgonine. The intra-day and inter-day precision and accuracy was less than 15.6%. Process efficiencies ranged from 35.9 to 123.4% and recoveries from 59.9 to 110.1%. The developed method was successfully applied to casework.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Forensic Sciences of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Kruiz@icf.gobierno.pr
authors.forename: Kazandra
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ruiz-Colón
authors.forename: María A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Martínez
authors.forename: Luz A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Silva-Torres
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chavez-Arias
authors.forename: Margarita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Meléndez-Negrón
authors.forename: María S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Conte-Miller
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bloom-Oquendo
mesh_terms: D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D003042:Cocaine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000097:blood; D003061:Codeine / Q000097:blood; D004340:Drug Contamination; D049429:Forensic Pathology / Q000379:methods*; D003932:Heroin / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000737:chemistry; D009020:Morphine / Q000097:blood; D009022:Morphine Derivatives / Q000097:blood*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization / Q000379:methods*; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000379:methods*; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D014991:Xylazine / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs; D009022:Morphine Derivatives; D014991:Xylazine; C005618:benzoylecgonine; D003932:Heroin; D009020:Morphine; D003042:Cocaine; C026979:6-O-monoacetylmorphine; D003061:Codeine