ortho-Lithium/magnesium carboxylate-driven aromatic nucleophilic substitution reactions on unprotected naphthoic acids

Substitution of an ortho-fluoro or methoxy group in 1- and 2-naphthoic acids furnishing substituted naphthoic acids occurs in good to excellent yields upon reaction with alkyl/vinyl/aryl organolithium and Grignard reagents, in the absence of a metal catalyst without the need to protect the carboxyl (CO(2)H) group. This novel nucleophilic aromatic substitution is presumed to proceed via a precoordination of the organometallic with the substrate, followed by an addition/elimination.     

LC-MS/MS analysis of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid A in serum after protein precipitation using an in-house synthesized deuterated internal standard

An assay based on liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry is presented for the fast, precise and sensitive quantitation of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid A (THCA) in serum. THCA is the biogenetic precursor of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol in cannabis and has aroused interest in the pharmacological and forensic field especially as a potential marker for recent cannabis use. After addition of deuterated THCA, synthesized from D(3)-THC as starting material, and protein precipitation, the analytes were separated using gradient elution on a Luna C18 column (150 × 2.0 mm × 5 μm) with 0.1% formic acid and acetonitrile/0.1% formic acid. Data acquisition was performed on a triple quadrupole linear ion trap mass spectrometer in multiple reaction monitoring mode with negative electrospray ionization. After optimization, the following sample preparation procedure was used: 200 μL serum was spiked with internal standard solution and methanol and then precipitated 'in fractions' with 500 μL ice-cold acetonitrile. After storage and centrifugation, the supernatant was evaporated and the residue redissolved in mobile phase. The assay was fully validated according to international guidelines including, for the first time, the assessment of matrix effects and stability experiments. Limit of detection was 0.1 ng/mL, and limit of quantification was 1.0 ng/mL. The method was found to be selective and proved to be linear over a range of 1.0 to 100 ng/mL using a 1/x weighted calibration model with regression coefficients >0.9996. Accuracy and precision data were within the required limits (RSD ≤ 8.6%, bias: 2.4 to 11.4%), extractive yield was greater than 84%. The analytes were stable in serum samples after three freeze/thaw cycles and storage at -20 °C for one month.