ISSN: 0022-1198
Published Online: 14 September 2005
Page Count: 5

Identification of Anhydroecgonine Ethyl Ester in the Urine of a Drug Overdose Victim
Myers, AL
School of Pharmacy, West Virginia University, WV

Williams, HE
School of Pharmacy, West Virginia University, WV

Kraner, JC
Office of Chief Medical Examiner, WV

Callery, PS
School of Pharmacy, West Virginia University, WV

(Received 9 March 2005; accepted 7 June 2005)

Abstract

Toxicological evaluation of postmortem urine collected from a 41-year-old deceased white male detected anhydroecgonine ethyl ester (ethylecgonidine, AEEE), a transesterification product of smoked cocaine co-abused with ethanol. A solid phase extraction (SPE) method was used to extract cocaine, AEEE, and related metabolites from urine. SPE on a 1 mL urine sample from the decedent followed by GC-MS detected AEEE. Other metabolites identified by GC-MS included cocaine, cocaethylene, and anhydroecgonine methyl ester (AEME). To determine whether some or all of the AEEE was artifactually produced in the heated GC injector port, an alternative LC-MS method was developed. LC/MS following SPE found at least 50 ng/mL of AEEE in the extract. The mass fragmentation (MS/MS and MS3) of AEEE detected in the urine was compared to spectra of authentic, synthesized compound. AEEE is a potential additional forensic marker for the co-abuse of smoked cocaine and ethanol.

Keywords:
forensic science, anhydroecgonine ethyl ester, ethylecgonidine, anhydroecgonine methyl ester, cocaethylene, pyrolysis, drugs of abuse

Paper ID: JFS2005118
DOI: 10.1520/JFS2005118
ASTM International is a member of CrossRef.