title: Enantiomer Profiling of Methamphetamine in White Crystal and Tablet Forms (Ma Old) Using LC-MS-MS.
abstract: At the global level, seizures of crystalline methamphetamine (MA) and MA tablets have risen to a new high, indicating that the substance is an imminent threat. MA enantiomer profiling was a useful tool to investigate the prevalence of MA abuse, the intrinsic characteristics of the seized samples and the trends of precursors. In this work, the distribution of enantiomers in clandestine MA crystals and tablets seized mainly in the Yangtze River Delta region, China, from 2008 to 2014 were identified. The MA samples were diluted with internal standard methanol solution, and analyzed by LC-MS-MS. The detection limits of the enantiomers were 0.04 μg/L. The limit of quantification was 0.1 μg/L. As little as 0.2% of the R-enantiomer ratio could be determined. Standard calibration curves of S- and R-MA showed good linearity in the range of 0.1-80 μg/L (r(2) > 0.995). All of the seizures were optically pure S-enantiomer in the years 2008 and 2009. Seized samples containing a slight amount of R-MA began to appear in 2010 and increased in the year 2014. No racemic mixture or R-isomer of MA was seized. From this study, we could find out that smuggling routes and/or precursors might be silently changing in the Yangtze River Delta region, China.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Toxicology, Institute of Forensic Sciences, Ministry of Justice, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Forensic Medicine, Guangfu Xi Road 1347, Shanghai 200063, China Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis, School of Pharmacy, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Wenhua Road 103, Shenyang 110016, China.
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis, School of Pharmacy, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Wenhua Road 103, Shenyang 110016, China.
authors.forename: Zhiguo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Toxicology, Institute of Forensic Sciences, Ministry of Justice, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Forensic Medicine, Guangfu Xi Road 1347, Shanghai 200063, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Toxicology, Institute of Forensic Sciences, Ministry of Justice, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Forensic Medicine, Guangfu Xi Road 1347, Shanghai 200063, China xiangping2630@163.com.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Xiang
mesh_terms: D002138:Calibration; D002681:China; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000592:standards; D003460:Crystallization; D064423:Drug Trafficking; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000032:analysis* / Q000138:chemical synthesis; D007536:Isomerism; D057230:Limit of Detection; D008694:Methamphetamine / Q000032:analysis* / Q000138:chemical synthesis; D012015:Reference Standards; D013607:Tablets; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000592:standards
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs; D013607:Tablets; D008694:Methamphetamine