AAFS 2012: Analysis of Synthetic Cannabinoid by LC/MS/MS & GC/MS (Feb 25 1030-1050am)

The world of synthetic cannabinoids, i.e. The Spice drugs, is a complicated one. Not only are these compounds not derived from the cannabis plant but they are more resistant to testing by conventional immunoassay screens. The spice drugs consist of three major sets, those derived from the work of Prof. John Huffman's group (JWH compounds), those derived from the work at the Hebrew University (HU compounds), and the compounds derived from the work of Prof. Makriyanni's group (AM compounds). These materials are typically sprayed onto plant like material (or herbage), and allowed to dry off. The plant material is then bagged for supply. In analyzing the herbal material for spice drugs, the analytical chemist has to remove this plant material to provide an identification and quantification of the amount of drug present.

In this study (in collaboration with a major crime laboratory), material suspected of containing spice drug material was sonicated in methanol, a portion of the plant extract taken and diluted with an aqueous buffer containing an internal standard. This solution was applied to UCT's mixed mode Clean Screen THC (CSTHC206) SPE column. This SPE column is recognized around the world for producing the cleanest cannabinoid extracts. The column was washed, dried and eluted with an organic solvent system. The extracts were analyzed by standard gas chromatography- mass spectrometer (GC-MS) and found to contain AM2201. The SPE extracts were also analyzed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) where the samples were quantified. The recoveries from the SPE extraction were found to be greater than 90 %, they also showed minimal matrix effects which demonstrates the cleanness of the SPE methodology. This procedure should greatly assist controlled substance analysts in the testing of plant/herbage material for the presence of spice type drugs.