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On-line SPE LC-MS/MS for the quantification of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and its two major metabolites in human peripheral blood by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

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Abstract

A universal and robust analytical method for the determination of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and two of its metabolites Δ9-(11-OH)-tetrahydrocannabinol (11-OH-THC) and 11-nor-Δ9-carboxy-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC-COOH) in human whole blood was developed and validated for use in forensic toxicology. Protein precipitation, integrated solid phase extraction and on-line enrichment followed by high-performance liquid chromatography separation and detection with a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer were combined. The linear ranges used for the three cannabinoids were from 0.5 to 20 ng/mL for THC and 11-OH-THC and from 2.5 to 100 ng/mL for THC-COOH, therefore covering the requirements for forensic use. Correlation coefficients of 0.9980 or better were achieved for all three analytes. No relevant hydrolysis was observed for THC-COOH glucuronide with this procedure — in contrast to our previous GC-MS procedure, which obviously lead to an artificial increase of the THC-COOH concentration due to the hydrolysis of the glucuronide-conjugate occurring at high pH during the phase-transfer catalyzed methylation step.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Matthias Herzog, Brechbühler AG, Zürich, and Stefan Brand, Dionex AG, Olten, and Sidonia Guggisberg, Thomas Wüthrich, Nicole Ochsenbein, and Anita Iannone for their contributions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Bern, Bühlstrasse 20, 3012, Bern, Switzerland

    Stefan König, Stephan Lanz, Martina Gasser & Wolfgang Weinmann

  2. Chemistry Department, Spiez Laboratory, Federal Office for Civil Protection, 3700, Spiez, Switzerland

    Beat Aebi

Authors
  1. Stefan König
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  2. Beat Aebi
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  3. Stephan Lanz
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  4. Martina Gasser
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  5. Wolfgang Weinmann
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stefan König.

Additional information

Published in the special issue Forensic Toxicology with Guest Editors Frank T. Peters, Hans H. Maurer, and Frank Musshoff.

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König, S., Aebi, B., Lanz, S. et al. On-line SPE LC-MS/MS for the quantification of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and its two major metabolites in human peripheral blood by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Anal Bioanal Chem 400, 9–16 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-011-4708-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-011-4708-x

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