AN AUTOMATED PREPARATION DEVICE FOR THE DETERMINATION OF DRUGS IN BIOLOGICAL-FLUIDS COUPLED ONLINE TO A GAS-CHROMATOGRAPH MASS-SPECTROMETER

An on-line, solid-phase extraction gas chromatography/mass spectrometr y method for the automated pretreatment of biological fluids is propos ed. Several drugs of abuse were used as model compounds. The analytes are trapped on a home-made RP-C-18 column and subsequently eluted with chloroform. The fraction of the organic solvent containing the larges t drug concentration is injected into the CG/MS via a single interface . Detection limits of 0.5-10 ng/mL are achieved by using 1 mL of urine or serum; the relative standard deviation is ca. 3-4%. The selectivit y of the method allows the analytes to be determined in the presence o f other drugs of abuse. To demonstrate the potential of the proposed a pproach, the method was applied to the determination of cocaine, codei ne and methadone in human urine obtained from patients in a hospital. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.