Simultaneous determination of ten amphetamine designer drugs in human whole blood by capillary electrophoresis with diode array detection

In recent years, a number of new designer drugs have entered the illicit drug market. The methylenedioxyderivatives of amphetamine represent the largest group of designer drugs. This paper describes a method for screening for and simultaneously quantifying 10 2,5-methylenedioxy-derivatives of amphetamine and phenethylamine in human whole blood, using capillary electrophoresis (CE) with diode array detection (DAD). Using an aqueous pH 2.5 phosphate buffer, CE analysis gave peaks with good symmetry and reproducible migration times. Under these experimental conditions, the 10 amphetamines were resolved in 15 min and without interference from biological matrices (blood). Their identification by migration time was confirmed by their UV spectra recorded with a DAD (190–350 nm). The main advantages of the present method lie in its simplicity, clean and reliable extraction from human whole blood and simultaneous detection and quantification by CE-DAD. The applicability of the method was demonstrated by analysis of in vivo rat blood samples. The method was validated according to international guidelines.