GC-MS method for quantification of mephedrone in human blood sample

Abstract

Abuse of mephedrone (4-methylmethcathinone) has emerged among the last few years. Intoxication and fatality associated with mephedrone have been reported in the literature. The present work describes a simple and rapid gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method for detection and quantification of mephedrone in human blood samples using GC-MS. Blood was deproteinated with acetonitrile and the supernatant was derivatized and extracted in a single step with ethyl chloroformate and ethyl acetate. Methamphetamine-d5 was used as an internal standard (IS). The characteristic ions at m/z 58, 119 and 130 for mephedrone and m/z 62, 92 and 134 for methamphetamine-D5 were used for quantification of the analyte. The calibration curve was linear within the concentration range 10-2,000 ng/mL. Intra-and inter-assay precisions (%RSD) were within 10.9-11.9 and 9.2-11.2, respectively. Intra-assay accuracy (%Bias) was between 1.8 and 2.8. The method was successfully applied to detect and quantify mephedrone in real blood samples.