Comparison of Ultra High Performance Supercritical Fluid Chromatography, Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography, and Gas Chromatography for the Separation of Synthetic Cathinones

• NCJ Number: 251984
• Author(s): Stephanie Carnes, Stacey O'Brien, Angelica Szewczak, Lauriane Tremeau-Cayel, Walter F. Rowe, Bruce McCord, Ira S. Lurie
• Date Published: September 2017
• Length: 12 pages
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Award: The Utility of Ultra High Performance Supercritical Fluid Chromatography for the Analysis of Seized Drugs: Application to Synthetic Cannabinoids and Bath Salts

Annotation

This study compared ultra high performance supercritical fluid chromatography, ultra high performance liquid chromatography, and gas chromatography for the separation of synthetic cathinones.

Abstract

Nine different mixtures of bath salts were analyzed in this study. The three different chromatographic techniques were examined using a general set of controlled synthetic cathinones as well as a variety of other synthetic cathinones that exist as positional isomers. Overall, 35 different synthetic cathinones were analyzed. A variety of column types and chromatographic modes were examined for developing each separation. For the ultra high performance supercritical fluid chromatography separations, analyses were performed using a series of Torus and Trefoil columns with either ammonium formate or ammonium hydroxide as additives, and methanol, ethanol or isopropanol organic solvents as modifiers. Ultra high performance liquid chromatographic separations were performed in both reversed phase and hydrophilic interaction chromatographic modes using SPP C18 and SPP HILIC columns. Gas chromatography separations were performed using an Elite-5MS capillary column. The orthogonality of ultra high performance supercritical fluid chromatography, ultra high performance liquid chromatography, and gas chromatography was examined using principal component analysis. For the best overall separation of synthetic cathinones, the use of ultra high performance supercritical fluid chromatography in combination with gas chromatography is recommended. (Publisher abstract modified)