ISSN: 0022-1198
CODEN: JFSCA
Published Online: 1 May 1998
Page Count: 4

Automated Extraction of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) and N-demethyl-LSD from Blood, Serum, Plasma, and Urine Samples Using the Zymark RapidTrace™ with LC/MS/MS Confirmation
Waldner, B
Director, Research and Development, scientist, analysts, and senior scientist, National Medical Services, Inc., PA

Diamond, FX
Director, Research and Development, scientist, analysts, and senior scientist, National Medical Services, Inc., PA

de Kanel, J
Director, Research and Development, scientist, analysts, and senior scientist, National Medical Services, Inc., PA

Monahan, RM
Director, Research and Development, scientist, analysts, and senior scientist, National Medical Services, Inc., PA

Vickery, WE
Director, Research and Development, scientist, analysts, and senior scientist, National Medical Services, Inc., PA

(Received 10 September 1997; accepted 20 October 1997)

Abstract

A forensic procedure for the quantitative confirmation of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and the qualitative confirmation of its metabolite, N-demethyl-LSD, in blood, serum, plasma, and urine samples is presented. The Zymark RapidTrace™ was used to perform fully automated solid-phase extractions of all specimen types. After extract evaporation, confirmations were performed using liquid chromatography (LC) followed by positive electrospray ionization (ESI+) mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (MS/MS) without derivatization. Quantitation of LSD was accomplished using LSD-d³ as an internal standard. The limit of quantitation (LOQ) for LSD was 0.05 ng/mL. The limit of detection (LOD) for both LSD and N-demethyl-LSD was 0.025 ng/mL. The recovery of LSD was greater than 95% at levels of 0.1 ng/mL and 2.0 ng/mL. For LSD at 1.0 ng/mL, the within-run and between-run (different day) relative standard deviation (RSD) was 2.2% and 4.4%, respectively.

Keywords:
forensic science, lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD, N-demethyl-LSD, blood, serum, plasma, urine, HPLC-MS-MS, electrospray ionization, RapidTrace, solid-phase extraction

Paper ID: JFS16192J
DOI: 10.1520/JFS16192J
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