ISSN: 0022-1198
CODEN: JFSCA
Published Online: 1 January 1983
Page Count: 6

Analysis of Blood and Tissue for Amoxapine and Trimipramine
Hadac, JP
Toxicologist and GC/MS section chief, chief toxicologist, assistant chief toxicologist, toxicologist, and chief medical examiner, Cook County Institute of Forensic Medicine, Office of the Medical Examiner, IL

Schaffer, MI
Toxicologist and GC/MS section chief, chief toxicologist, assistant chief toxicologist, toxicologist, and chief medical examiner, Cook County Institute of Forensic Medicine, Office of the Medical Examiner, IL

Wu Chen, NB
Toxicologist and GC/MS section chief, chief toxicologist, assistant chief toxicologist, toxicologist, and chief medical examiner, Cook County Institute of Forensic Medicine, Office of the Medical Examiner, IL

Lin, R-L
Toxicologist and GC/MS section chief, chief toxicologist, assistant chief toxicologist, toxicologist, and chief medical examiner, Cook County Institute of Forensic Medicine, Office of the Medical Examiner, IL

Stein, RJ
Toxicologist and GC/MS section chief, chief toxicologist, assistant chief toxicologist, toxicologist, and chief medical examiner, Cook County Institute of Forensic Medicine, Office of the Medical Examiner, IL

(Received 13 March 1982; accepted 2 June 1982)

Abstract

A method for the identification and quantitation of two tricyclic antidepressants, amoxapine (Asendin^®) and trimipramine (Surmontil^®) is presented here. Samples were extracted with hexane at pH 10, back-extracted with 1.0N sulfuric acid. The acidic layer was adjusted to pH 10 and re-extracted with hexane. Electron impact mass spectra were obtained. The base peak and molecular ion for amoxapine were at m/z 245 and 313, respectively. The base peak and molecular ion for trimipramine were at m/z 58 and 294, respectively. There were three forensic toxicology cases involving amoxapine in Cook County, IL, in 1980 and 1981. The concentrations of amoxapine in blood for these three cases were 1.66 mg/L, 7.16 mg/L, and 2.95 mg/L, respectively.

Keywords:
toxicology, amoxapine, trimipramine, Asendin®, Surmontil®, tricyclic antidepressants, chromatographic analysis, gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric analysis

Paper ID: JFS12244J
DOI: 10.1520/JFS12244J
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