• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.326-333
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• 2020

In this work, we developed an analytical method for determining 11 illicit compounds in dietary supplements using high-performance liquid chromatography and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Eleven target compounds, including those meant for weight loss (7-keto-dihydroepiandrosterone, buformin, metformin, phenformin, salbutamol, and tolbutamide), sexual enhancement (dihydroepiandrosterone), and relaxation (asarone, kavain, magnoflorine, and picamilon) were screened and confirmed in dietary supplements. Method validation was performed by evaluating the selectivity, linearity, limit of quantification (LOQ), accuracy, and precision according to the Association of Official Analytical Chemists guidelines. The linearity was > 0.993 for all analytes. The LOQs were ranged in 2.1-9.9 ㎍/mL (HPLC-DAD) and 0.002-0.008 ㎍/mL (LC-MS/MS). The accuracies (expressed as recovery) were 90.0-106% (HPLC-DAD) and 83.0-114% (LC-MS/MS). The precision (expressed as the relative standard deviation) was below 10% using HPLC and LC-MS/MS. The proposed method can be used for the surveillance of illicit compounds in dietary supplements.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.98-107
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• 2020

Methamphetamine (MA) is currently the most abused illicit drug in Korea. MA is produced by chemical synthesis, and the final target drug that is produced contains small amounts of the precursor chemicals, intermediates, and by-products. To identify and quantify these trace compounds in MA seizures, a practical and feasible approach for conducting chromatographic fingerprinting with a suite of traditional chemometric methods and recently introduced machine learning approaches was examined. This was achieved using gas chromatography (GC) coupled with a flame ionization detector (FID) and mass spectrometry (MS). Following appropriate examination of all the peaks in 71 samples, 166 impurities were selected as the characteristic components. Unsupervised (principal component analysis (PCA), hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), and K-means clustering) and supervised (partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA), orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), support vector machines (SVM), and deep neural network (DNN) with Keras) chemometric techniques were employed for classifying the 71 MA seizures. The results of the PCA, HCA, K-means clustering, PLS-DA, OPLS-DA, SVM, and DNN methods for quality evaluation were in good agreement. However, the tested MA seizures possessed distinct features, such as chirality, cutting agents, and boiling points. The study indicated that the established qualitative and semi-quantitative methods will be practical and useful analytical tools for characterizing trace compounds in illicit MA seizures. Moreover, they will provide a statistical basis for identifying the synthesis route, sources of supply, trafficking routes, and connections between seizures, which will support drug law enforcement agencies in their effort to eliminate organized MA crime.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.58-83
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• 2022

We developed analytical methods using high performance chromatography (HPLC) and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for the simultaneous determination of 80 unapproved compounds in dietary supplements. The target compounds for analysis were unapproved ingredients (e.g., pharmaceuticals) that have potential adverse effects on consumers owing to accidental misuse, overuse, and interaction with other medication in dietary supplement. Two analytical methods were tested to identify the optimal validation results according to AOAC guideline. As a result, limit of quantification (LOQ) was 0.14-0.5 ㎍ mL^-1; linearity (r²) was ≥ 0.99; accuracy (expressed as recovery) was 78.9-114%; precision (relative standard deviation) was ≤ 4.28% in the HPLC method. In the LC-MS/MS method, LOQ was 0.01-2 ng mL^-1, linearity (r²) was ≥0.98, accuracy was 71.7-119%; precision was ≤ 12.5%. The developed methods were applied to 51 dietary supplements collected from 2019 to 2021 through MFDS alert system. Based on our previous monitoring study, major compounds were icariin, sibutramine, yohimbine, sildenafil, tadalafil, sennosides (A, B), cascarosides (A, B, C, D), and phenolphthalein. In this study, we re-analyzed samples of detected compounds, and evaluated the statistical difference using Bland-Altman analysis to compare two analytical approaches between HPLC and LC-MS/MS. These results showed a good agreement between two methods that can be used to monitor the unapproved ingredients in dietary supplements. The developed two methods are complementarily suitable for monitoring the adulteration of 80 unapproved compounds in dietary supplements.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.163-172
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• 2019

Methamphetamine (MA) is currently the most abused illicit drug in Korea and its major metabolite is amphetamine (AP). As MA exist as two enantiomers with the different pharmacological properties, it is necessary to determine their respective amounts in a sample. Thus a chiral stationary phase liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) method was developed for identification and quantification of d-MA, l-MA, d-AP, and l-AP in human urine. Urine sample ($200{\mu}L$) was diluted with pure water and purified using solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridge. A $5-{\mu}L$ aliquot of SPE treated sample solution was injected into LC-MS/MS system. Chiral separation was carried out on the Astec Chirobiotic V2 column with an isocratic elution for each enantiomer. Identification and quantification of enantiomeric MA and AP was performed using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) detection mode. Linear regression with a $1/x^2$ as the weighting factor was applied to generate a calibration curve. The linear ranges were 25-1000 ng/mL for all compounds. The intra- and inter-day precisions were within 3.6 %, while the intra- and inter-day accuracies ranged from -5.4 % to 11.8 %. The limits of detection were 2.5 ng/mL (d-MA), 3.5 ng/mL (l-MA), 7.5 ng/mL (d-AP), and 7.5 ng/mL (l-AP). Method validation parameters such as selectivity, matrix effect, and stability were evaluated and met acceptance criteria. The applicability of the method was tested by the analysis of genuine forensic urine samples from drug abusers. d-MA is the most common compound found in urine and mainly used by abusers.