Determination of stimulants and narcotics as well as their in vitro metabolites by online CE-ESI-MS

A Review of Analytical Methods for Codeine Determination

Codeine is derived from morphine, an opioid analgesic, and has weaker analgesic and sedative effects than the parent molecule. This weak opioid is commonly used in combination with other drugs for over-the-counter cough relief medication. Due to the psychoactive properties of opioid drugs, the easily obtained codeine often becomes subject to misuse. Codeine misuse has emerged as a concerning public health issue due to its associated adverse effects such as headache, nausea, vomiting, and hemorrhage. Thus, it is very important to develop reliable analytical techniques to detect codeine for both quality control of pharmaceutical formulations and identifying drug misuse in the community. This review aims to provide critical outlooks on analytical methods applicable to the determination of codeine.

Separation of isomeric bavachin and isobavachalcone in the fructus Psoraleae by capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry

Bavachin and isobavachalcone are the isomeric compounds in the fructus Psoraleae. The ion trap mass spectrometric fragmentation pathways of the bavachin and isobavachalcone in negative ion mode were elucidated for the identification. A novel method for determination of isomeric bavachin and isobavachalcone has been developed by capillary electrophoresis coupled with mass spectrometric detection. The effects of several factors such as concentration, pH of ammonium acetate buffer, separation voltage, composition and flow rate of the sheath liquid were investigated. Under optimal conditions, the linear concentration range for bavachin and isobavachalcone were 0.8-100 μg/mL with the correlation coefficient of 0.996 and 0.995, respectively. Relative standard deviations of migration time and peak areas were lower than 5%. The limits of detection (signal/noise = 3) were 60 ng/mL. The proposed method can be successfully applied to the determination of bavachin and isobavachalcone in the fructus Psoraleae and six fructus Psoraleae-containing preparations.