Simultaneous analysis of 18 compounds of fentanyl and its analogues by TLC, GC/MS and LC/MS

Abstract

Simultaneous analytical methods for 18 compounds of fentanyl and its ana-logues by thin-layer chromatography (TLC), gas chromatography/mass spectro-metry (GC/MS) and liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) were de-veloped. In TLC, fentanyl analogues were well separated by using toluene-acetone 28 aq. ammonia (20:10:0.3, by vol.) as a developing solvent. In GC/MS, fentanyl analogues, except for fentanyl and acetyl a methylfentanyl, could be separated on the extracted ion chromatograms (EIC) of the characteristic fragment ions of each compound. In LC/MS, fentanyl analogues could be separated on the EICs of the protonated molecule of each compound. All of the fentanyl analogues tested were identiˆed correctly by using the combination of TLC, GC/MS and LC/MS.