Chromatographic resolution of closely related species: Drug metabolites and analogs

Routine application of SFC-MS in doping control: Analysis of 3 × 1000 urine samples using three different SFC-MS instruments

Supercritical fluid chromatography-mass spectrometry (SFC-MS) has proved to be a beneficial tool for sample analysis for a wide variety of compounds and, as such, has recently gained the attention of the anti-doping community. We have tested the applicability of SFC-MS for routine doping control analysing approximately 3 × 1000 identical anti-doping samples utilising SFC-MS instruments from three different vendors: Agilent Technologies, Waters Corporation and Shimadzu Corporation. A 'dilute and inject' approach either without or after hydrolysis of glucuronide metabolites was applied. Most of the compounds included in our study demonstrated excellent chromatography, whereas some showed co-elution with endogenous interferences requiring MS discrimination. Retention times typically were very stable within batches (%CV ≤ 0.5%), although this appeared to be analyte and column dependent. Chromatographic peak shape was good (symmetrical) and stable over the period of the testing without any change of column. Our results suggest that SFC-MS is a sensitive, reproducible and robust analytical tool ready to be used in anti-doping laboratories alongside the currently applied techniques such as gas and liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Even if instruments are designed slightly differently, all three setups demonstrated their fitness for the purpose in anti-doping testing.

Separation of chiral and achiral impurities in paroxetine hydrochloride in a single run using supercritical fluid chromatography with a polysaccharide stationary phase

Separating paroxetine hydrochloride and its impurities using conventional reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) is challenging due to their highly similar structures. In the present study, a rapid, simple, sensitive and environmentally friendly method was developed for the determination of chiral and achiral impurities in raw materials of paroxetine hydrochloride using chiral supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC). The impacts of chiral stationary phases (CSPs), mobile phases, column temperature and back pressure on the retention and separation of analytes were comprehensively evaluated. After method optimization, a satisfying result was obtained on a cellulose tris-(3-chloro-4-methylphenylcarbamate) stationary phase in 4.0 min using 70% CO₂ and 20 mM ammonium acetate in 30% methanol as the mobile phase. Molecular docking was further performed to understand the interactions between the analytes and CSP. The results suggested that hydrogen bonding and π-π interactions were the dominant interactions. The affinity given by the software was in good agreement with the elution order and free energy (△G) values obtained from van't Hoff equations. The results of molecular docking also provide insights into the different retentions of N-methylparoxetine at different temperatures. The results of method validation revealed that the method was sensitive with a limit of detection of approximately 0.05 μg·mL^-1 (corresponding to approximately 0.005% paroxetine hydrochloride in the sample solution). The relative standard deviations (RSDs) of precision and intra-assay precision were all less than 2.0%, and the recoveries of the method were 93.8~105.3% with RSDs less than 3.0%. The chiral and achiral RPLC methods included in the Chinese pharmacopoeia and the SFC method proposed in this study were simultaneously used to determine the impurity content in the raw materials of paroxetine hydrochloride. The results showed that impurities that cannot be detected by the reference method can be accurately quantified using the SFC method. In addition, the SFC method has advantages in terms of throughput, analysis cost and simplicity. This study can provide a reference for further research of impurities in paroxetine hydrochloride and promote the application of chiral SFC in the rapid separation of structurally similar compounds.

Isolation of achiral aliphatic acid derivatives from Piper kadsura using preparative two-dimensional chiral supercritical fluid chromatography

The separation of structural analogues in natural products has always been one of the challenges in separation science, where supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) with chiral stationary phases (CSPs) is an unconventional but potential solution. In this study, a preparative two-dimensional chiral SFC (2D cSFC) method that was established with two kinds of CSPs was applied in the isolation of the aliphatic acid derivatives in Piper kadsura (P. kadsura). The RPLC unseparated peaks of two samples A and B of P. kadsura were evenly scattered on the CSP-1 column while they clustered into two groups on the CSP-2 column by SFC. There was impressively complementary selectivity between CSP-1 and CSP-2, which were used for construction of 2D cSFC. The first dimension (¹D) separation with CSP-1 fractionated the sample A into six parts by a heart-cutting method and the sample B into nine parts for a comprehensive 2D analysis; then 29 and 71 peaks were respectively found in these parts in the second dimension (²D) separation with CSP-2. Further through ²D preparative separation, 19 high purity components were obtained, and the chemical structures of two of them were confirmed, including a novel unsaturated aliphatic acid compound (8Z,10Z)-12-methoxyheptadeca-8,10-dienoic acid and a known octadecadienoic acid lactone Lactariolide. The 2D cSFC method presented the superiority of separating the achiral compounds of complex samples.

Development and validation of ultra-high performance supercritical fluid chromatography method for quantitative determination of six compounds in Guizhi Fuling capsule and tablet samples

A fast and simple ultra-high performance supercritical fluid chromatography method has been developed for the determination of six analytes, namely (paeonol, coumarin, cinnamic alcohol, cinnamic acid, paeoniflorin, and amygdalin) in Guizhi Fuling capsule and tablet samples. The influence of the key chromatographic parameters for the separation purposes was evaluated. The optimal column was Trefoil CEL1 column. The optimal mobile phase was a gradient mixture of carbon dioxide and methanol at flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. The back pressure of the system was set to 1.38 × 10⁷  Pa and the temperature to 45°C. The six compounds were separated within 11 min by the proposed ultra-high performance supercritical fluid chromatography method with satisfactory resolution. Method validation confirmed that the procedure is accurate with the recovery rates from 87.04 to 104.30%, intraday precision values less than 4.81% and interday precision less than 5.22%, and linear with R² higher than 0.9967. Therefore, this work provides a simple and novel method for the simultaneous analysis of six compounds in Guizhi Fuling capsule and tablet samples.

Large-scale supercritical fluid chromatography purification of unstable STING agonist intermediates

A regioisomeric mixture of the nucleoside derivative, Intermediate 1, required resolution by preparative supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) in order to obtain the desired regioisomer as a key intermediate in a STING agonist program. Various chiral columns and solvents including methanol, acetonitrile, isopropanol, and the mixture of acetonitrile and isopropanol as organic modifiers in carbon dioxide at different temperatures were screened to obtain the best regioisomeric resolution. A key issue associated with interconversion between the regioisomers via silyl migration during purification was investigated in methanol, acetonitrile, and the mixture of acetonitrile and isopropanol, and the optimal organic modifier in CO₂ was established to mitigate the interconversion to an acceptable level (<5%). Taking into account peak resolution, throughput, interconversion and operation robustness, an efficient SFC method for large-scale purification was successfully developed and scaled up onto a 5 cm I. D. Chiralcel OJ-H column using 25% acetonitrile: isopropanol [1:1 (v/v)] with 0.1% ammonium hydroxide as the modifier in CO₂ at a total flow rate of 270 mL/min and a temperature of 30°C. In addition, continual evaporation (i.e. every hour) of the desired isomer fraction stream post-separation ensured minimal further interconversion. A total of 258 grams were separated at a high throughput of 8.6 g/h. Regioisomeric purity of the desired isomer of Intermediate 1 was ≥98.2% and the recovery was ≥90.2%. A similar purification strategy was applied to the regioisomeric resolution of Intermediate 2, an analog of Intermediate 1. In total, 1028 grams of Intermediate 2 were processed at a high throughput of 12.5 g/h on a Viridis BEH 2-EP column. The regioisomeric purity of the desired isomer was ≥96.8% and the recovery was ≥90.7%.

The effect of water on the large-scale supercritical fluid chromatography purification of two factor XIa active pharmaceutical ingredients

BMS-962212, a parenteral Factor XIa inhibitor, was scaled-up for toxicity studies. Two steps of supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) were developed for the chiral resolution of the penultimate and achiral purification of final active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), BMS-962212. A robust SFC process using Chiralcel OD-H with methanol-acetonitrile as modifier in CO₂ was established to achieve a stable and uninterrupted operation with reduced mobile phase viscosity and system pressure drop. More than 230 g of the racemic penultimate was chirally resolved to reach >99% chiral purity, ready for final tert-butyl ester deprotection to provide the API. There were a significant number of impurities in BMS-962212 generated from the final step that needed to be removed. In contrast to conventional SFC conditions, an SFC method exploiting water and ammonia as additives in both the mobile phase and sample solution was developed to accomplish purification and desalting (i.e. removing TFA) of the zwitterionic API in one step. Water as an additive eliminated salt precipitation and improved the resolution while ammonia contributed to the desalting, details of which will be discussed in this article. A throughput of 2 g/h was achieved, and >80 g of the crude API was purified. The same strategy was applied to another Factor XIa API (compound A) and its penultimate.

Reverse-phase HPLC purification for an extremely unstable glucuronide metabolite

A pure β-​D-​Glucopyranosiduronic acid metabolite (≥98.0 % purity and a single impurity ≤0.50 %) was requested for biological studies. Due to its unusual instability, the purification of the glucuronide metabolite was extremely challenging. Initially, the crude sample (89 % HPLC area purity) was purified on a Waters SunFire C₈ OBD column with 40 mM ammonium acetate buffer and acetonitrile as the mobile phase under a gradient program. The purified glucuronide metabolite solid was obtained by evaporation and lyophilization. However, this procedure yielded the target compound with 97.6 % HPLC area purity and did not meet the requirements. Through the investigation, lyophilization was identified as the key step for the purity of the metabolite, and further lyophilization resulted in an increased amount of the degraded impurities. To better understand the compound, stability studies of the purified metabolite were conducted under sample media, organic solvent, acid, base, and light exposure. The compound was observed to be extremely unstable in water, acid, base and methanol, and sensitive to light, but relatively stable in ammonium acetate buffer (pH 5.0). Taking into account compound stability and the initial purification method, the improved purification procedure was successfully developed and the purified glucuronide metabolite was obtained with 99.2 % HPLC area purity and 0.39 % of the largest single impurity.

Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-MS/MS (UHPLC-MS/MS) in practice: analysis of drugs and pharmaceutical formulations

Background

UHPLC-MS/MS is connected in various research facilities for the qualitative and quantitative investigation of a pharmaceutical substance, pharmaceutical items, and biological specimen.

Main body

The commence review article is an endeavor to offer pervasive awareness around assorted aspects and details about the UHPLC-MS/MS and related techniques with the aim on practice to an estimation of medicinal active agents in the last 10 years. The article also focused on isolation, separation, and characterization of present impurity in drug and biological samples.

Conclusion

Review article compiles a general overview of medicinally important drugs and their analysis with UHPLC-MS/MS. It gives fundamental thought regarding applications of UHPLC-MS/MS for the study on safety limit. The summary of developed UHPLC-MS/MS methods gives a contribution to the future trend and limitations in this area of research.

Enhanced fluidity liquid chromatography: A guide to scaling up from analytical to preparative separations

The evolution of supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) instrumentation, improved detection capability, and expanded modifier range has led to extending the reach of SFC to the analysis of a broader spectrum of analytes beyond enantioselective separations. However, preparative SFC has yet to see the same technological revitalization, especially in regards to the purification of highly polar analytes. Enhanced fluidity liquid chromatography (EFLC) has been demonstrated as one of the ways to extend the applicable range of SFC instrumentation to highly polar analytes such as proteins, carbohydrates, and nucleotides. Despite recent applications of EFLC for challenging mixtures of hydrophilic metabolites and analogs, its viability in preparative purification, which is of great importance to the pharmaceutical industry, remains unknown. Herein, multiple chromatographic parameters that are critical to achieve feasible EFLC purification methods were investigated, including system pressure as a function of modifier composition (for several MeOH:H₂O ratios), effect of diluent injection conditions on peak shape, and optimization of mass load with diluent composition. The usage of 50% acetonitrile or methanol diluents provided the most volumetric loading capacity. In the case of sucrose, leveraging higher analyte solubility in water proved to be more favorable than the volumetric loading capacity of diluents with higher organic content. In fact, an 80 mg injection of sucrose was possible on a 2 cm preparative HILIC column with minimal peak shape degradation. The combined information led to the successful demonstration of EFLC for the preparative separation of sugars using readily available MS-directed SFC instrumentation.

High throughput analysis enables high throughput experimentation in pharmaceutical process research

High throughput experimentation has become widely used in the discovery and development of new medicines.

Multi-column ultra-high performance liquid chromatography screening with chaotropic agents and computer-assisted separation modeling enables process development of new drug substances

Streamlined workflow for method development and optimization.

Generic anion-exchange chromatography method for analytical and preparative separation of nucleotides in the development and manufacture of drug substances

Nucleotides are among the most frequently used chemical building blocks in the research, development and manufacture of drug substances. They are composed of three highly polar subunit molecules (a nucleobase, a sugar, and at least one phosphate group), which makes their separation and analysis very challenging by conventional liquid chromatography techniques. Herein, we describe a simple, efficient, and cost-effective ion-exchange chromatography (IEC) method for the separation and purification of over 20 nucleotides. This method combines the use of a Tosoh TSKgel SuperQ-5P W resin in conjunction with a fully aqueous eluent profile (ammonium bicarbonate-based) that allows for a straightforward scale-up transition and convenient drying process with minimal environmental impact. This generic method was optimized using chromatography simulation software (ACD Labs/LC Simulator) and successfully applied to the preparative purification of multicomponent nucleotide mixtures using readily available Fast Protein Liquid Chromatography (FPLC) instrumentation. These IEC method conditions can be effectively applied as the starting point for method development and isolation of other highly polar nucleotide species beyond those investigated in this study.

Applicability of supercritical fluid chromatography - mass spectrometry to metabolomics. I - Optimization of separation conditions for the simultaneous analysis of hydrophilic and lipophilic substances

The aim of this study was to evaluate the suitability of SFC-MS for the analysis of a wide range of compounds including lipophilic and highly hydrophilic substances (log P values comprised between -6 and 11), for its potential application toward human metabolomics. For this purpose, a generic unified chromatography gradient from 2 to 100% organic modifier in CO₂ was systematically applied. In terms of chemistry, the best stationary phases for this application were found to be the Agilent Poroshell HILIC (bare silica) and Macherey-Nagel Nucleoshell HILIC (silica bonded with a zwitterionic ligand). To avoid system overpressure at very high organic modifier proportion, columns of 100 × 3 mm I.D. packed with sub-3 μm superficially porous particles were selected. In terms of organic modifier, a mixture of 95% MeOH and 5% water was selected, with 50 mM ammonium formate and 1 mM ammonium fluoride, to afford good solubility of analytes in the mobile phase, limited retention for the most hydrophilic metabolites and suitable peak shapes of ionizable species. A sample diluent containing 50%ACN/50% water was employed as injection solvent. These conditions were applied to a representative set of metabolites belonging to nucleosides, nucleotides, small organic acids, small bases, sulfated/sulfonated metabolites, poly-alcohols, lipid related substances, quaternary ammonium metabolites, phosphate-based substances, carbohydrates and amino acids. Among all these metabolites, 65% of the compounds were adequately analyzed with excellent peak shape, 23% provided distorted peak shapes, while only 12% were not detected (mostly metabolites having several phosphate or several carboxylic acid groups).

Macrocyclic glycopeptide chiral selectors bonded to core-shell particles enables enantiopurity analysis of the entire verubecestat synthetic route

Verubecestat is an inhibitor of β-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1) being evaluated in clinical trials for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Synthetic route development involves diastereoselective transformations with a need for enantiomeric excess (ee) determination of each intermediate and final active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). The analytical technical package of validated methods relies on enantioselective SFC and RPLC separations using multiple 3 and 5 μm coated polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases (CSPs) and mobile phases combinations. Evaluation of recently developed chiral columns revealed a single chiral selector (Teicoplanin) bonded to 2.7 μm core-shell particles using H₃PO₄ in H₂O/ACN and triethylammonium acetate: methanol based eluents at different isocratic compositions allowed good enatioseparation of all verubecestat intermediates. EE determination of verubecestat is easily performed on NicoShell, another macrocyclic glycopeptide chiral selector bonded to 2.7 μm superficially porous particles. This approach enables fast and reliable enantiopurity analysis of the entire verubecestat synthetic route using only two chiral columns and mobile phases on a conventional HPLC system, simplifying technical package preparation, method validation and transfer to manufacturing facilities.

Impurity profiling of drug candidates: Analytical strategies using reversed-phase and mixed-mode high-performance liquid chromatography methods

The development of new active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) requires accurate impurity profiling. Nowadays, reversed-phase HPLC (RPLC) on C18 stationary phase is the method of first choice for this task and usually employed in generic screening methods. However, this method sometimes fails, especially when the target analyte is not sufficiently retained, making impurity analysis difficult or even impossible. In such cases, a second method must be available. In the present paper, we compare the merits of RPLC on C18 phase to those of previously optimized alternative methods, based on the analysis of a large and diverse set of small-molecule drug candidates. Various strategies are considered: RPLC on C18 phase but with different mobile phase composition (acidic or basic), RPLC with a pentafluorophenyl stationary phase, or mixed-mode HPLC with both bimodal and trimodal stationary phases. First, method performances were compared in terms of response rate (proportion of compounds eluted) and peak shapes for a large set of synthetic drugs (140) with structural diversity and their orthogonality was evaluated. Then a subset of compounds (25) containing varied impurity profiles was used to compare the methods based on the capability to detect impurities and evaluate the relative purity of the API.

Rapid purification of diastereoisomers from Piper kadsura using supercritical fluid chromatography with chiral stationary phases

Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) with chiral stationary phases (CSPs) is an advanced solution for the separation of achiral compounds in Piper kadsura. Analogues and stereoisomers are abundant in natural products, but there are obstacles in separation using conventional method. In this paper, four lignan diastereoisomers, (-)-Galbelgin, (-)-Ganschisandrin, Galgravin and (-)-Veraguensin, from Piper kadsura were separated and purified by chiral SFC. Purification strategy was designed, considering of the compound enrichment, sample purity and purification throughput. Two-step achiral purification method on chiral preparative columns with stacked automated injections was developed. Unconventional mobile phase modifier dichloromethane (DCM) was applied to improve the sample solubility. Four diastereoisomers was prepared at the respective weight of 103.1mg, 10.0mg, 152.3mg and 178.6mg from 710mg extract with the purity of greater than 98%.

Ultrafast Chiral Chromatography as the Second Dimension in Two-Dimensional Liquid Chromatography Experiments

Chromatographic separation and analysis of complex mixtures of closely related species is one of the most challenging tasks in modern pharmaceutical analysis. In recent years, two-dimensional liquid chromatography (2D-LC) has become a valuable tool for improving peak capacity and selectivity. However, the relatively slow speed of chiral separations has limited the use of chiral stationary phases (CSPs) as the second dimension in 2D-LC, especially in the comprehensive mode. Realizing that the recent revolution in the field of ultrafast enantioselective chromatography could now provide significantly faster separations, we herein report an investigation into the use of ultrafast chiral chromatography as a second dimension for 2D chromatographic separations. In this study, excellent selectivity, peak shape, and repeatability were achieved by combining achiral and chiral narrow-bore columns (2.1 mm × 100 mm and 2.1 mm × 150 mm, sub-2 and 3 μm) in the first dimension with 4.6 mm × 30 mm and 4.6 mm × 50 mm columns packed with highly efficient chiral selectors (sub-2 μm fully porous and 2.7 μm fused-core particles) in the second dimension, together with the use of 0.1% phosphoric acid/acetonitrile eluents in both dimensions. Multiple achiral × chiral and chiral × chiral 2D-LC examples (single and multiple heart-cutting, high-resolution sampling, and comprehensive) using ultrafast chiral chromatography in the second dimension are successfully applied to the separation and analysis of complex mixtures of closely related pharmaceuticals and synthetic intermediates, including chiral and achiral drugs and metabolites, constitutional isomers, stereoisomers, and organohalogenated species.

Analysis of polar urinary metabolites for metabolic phenotyping using supercritical fluid chromatography and mass spectrometry

Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) is frequently used for the analysis and separation of non-polar metabolites, but remains relatively underutilised for the study of polar molecules, even those which pose difficulties with established reversed-phase (RP) or hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatographic (HILIC) methodologies. Here, we present a fast SFC-MS method for the analysis of medium and high-polarity (-7≤cLogP≤2) compounds, designed for implementation in a high-throughput metabonomics setting. Sixty polar analytes were first screened to identify those most suitable for inclusion in chromatographic test mixtures; then, a multi-dimensional method development study was conducted to determine the optimal choice of stationary phase, modifier additive and temperature for the separation of such analytes using SFC. The test mixtures were separated on a total of twelve different column chemistries at three different temperatures, using CO2-methanol-based mobile phases containing a variety of polar additives. Chromatographic performance was evaluated with a particular emphasis on peak capacity, overall resolution, peak distribution and repeatability. The results suggest that a new generation of stationary phases, specifically designed for improved robustness in mixed CO2-methanol mobile phases, can improve peak shape, peak capacity and resolution for all classes of polar analytes. A significant enhancement in chromatographic performance was observed for these urinary metabolites on the majority of the stationary phases when polar additives such as ammonium salts (formate, acetate and hydroxide) were included in the organic modifier, and the use of water or alkylamine additives was found to be beneficial for specific subsets of polar analytes. The utility of these findings was confirmed by the separation of a mixture of polar metabolites in human urine using an optimised 7min gradient SFC method, where the use of the recommended column and co-solvent combination resulted in a significant improvement in chromatographic performance.

Simultaneous determination of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in reclaimed water using solid-phase extraction followed by ultra-performance convergence chromatography with photodiode array detection

A new fast and effective analysis method has been developed to simultaneously determine 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in reclaimed water samples by ultra-performance convergence chromatography with photodiode array detection and solid-phase extraction. The parameters of ultra-performance convergence chromatography on the separation behaviors and the crucial condition of solid-phase extraction were investigated systematically. Under optimal conditions, the 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons could be separated within 4 min. The limits of detection and quantification were in the range of 0.4-4 and 1-10 μg/L in water, respectively. This approach has been applied to a real industrial wastewater treatment plant successfully. The results showed that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were dramatically decreased after chemical treatment procedure, and the oxidation procedure was effective to remove trace polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Carbamazepine

This chapter includes the aspects of carbamazepine. The drug is synthesized by the use of 5H-dibenz[b,f]azepine and phosgene followed by subsequent reaction with ammonia. Carbamazepine is generally used for the treatment of seizure disorders and neuropathic pain, it is also important as off-label for a second-line treatment for bipolar disorder and in combination with an antipsychotic in some cases of schizophrenia when treatment with a conventional antipsychotic alone has failed. Other uses may include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, schizophrenia, phantom limb syndrome, complex regional pain syndrome, borderline personality disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. The chapter discusses the drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics and presents various methods of analysis of this drug such electrochemical analysis, spectroscopic analysis, and chromatographic techniques of separation. It also discusses its physical properties such as solubility characteristics, X-ray powder diffraction pattern, and thermal methods of analysis. The chapter is concluded with a discussion on its biological properties such as activity, toxicity, and safety.

Determination of a selection of synthetic cannabinoids and metabolites in urine by UHPSFC-MS/MS and by UHPLC-MS/MS

Two different analytical techniques, ultra-high performance supercritical fluid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPSFC-MS/MS) and reversed phase ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS), were used for the determination of two synthetic cannabinoids and eleven metabolites in urine; AM-2201 N-4-OH-pentyl, AM-2233, JWH-018 N-5-OH-pentyl, JWH-018 N-pentanoic acid, JWH-073 N-4-OH-butyl, JWH-073 N-butanoic acid, JWH-122 N-5-OH-pentyl, MAM-2201, MAM-2201 N-4-OH-pentyl, RCS-4 N-5-OH-pentyl, UR-144 degradant N-pentanoic acid, UR-144 N-4-OH-pentyl, and UR-144 N-pentanoic acid. Sample preparation included a liquid-liquid extraction after deconjugation with ß-glucuronidase. The UHPSFC-MS/MS method used an Acquity UPC(2 TM) BEH column with a mobile phase consisting of CO2 and 0.3% ammonia in methanol, while the UHPLC-MS/MS method used an Acquity UPLC® BEH C18 column with a mobile phase consisting of 5 mM ammonium formate (pH 10.2) and methanol. MS/MS detection was performed with positive electrospray ionization and two multiple reaction monitoring transitions. Deuterated internal standards were used for six of the compounds. Limits of quantification (LOQs) were between 0.04 and 0.4 µg/L. Between-day relative standard deviations at concentrations ≥ LOQ were ≤20%, with biases within ±19%. Recoveries ranged from 40 to 90%. Corrected matrix effects were within 100 ± 10%, except for MAM-2201 with UHPSFC-MS/MS, and for UR-144 N-pentanoic acid and MAM-2201 N-4-OH-pentyl with UHPLC-MS/MS. Elution order obtained by UHPSFC-MS/MS was almost opposite to that obtained by UHPLC-MS/MS, making this instrument setup an interesting combination for screening and confirmation analyses in forensic cases. The UHPLC-MS/MS method has, since August 2014, been successfully used for confirmation of synthetic cannabinoids in urine samples revealing a positive immunoassay screening result. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.