Simultaneous chiral analysis of methamphetamine and related compounds by capillary electrophoresis/mass spectrometry using anionic cyclodextrin.

A capillary electrophoresis/mass spectrometry method for the simultaneous chiral analysis of enantiomers of methamphetamine (MA), amphetamine (AP), dimethylamphetamine (DMA), ephedrine (EP), norephedrine (NE) and methylephedrine (ME) in urine has been developed. The background electrolyte was 1 M formic acid (pH 1.7). Using 0.85 mM heptakis(2,6-diacethyl-6-sulfato)-beta-cyclodextrin as the chiral selector, the 12 enantiomers were completely separated within 25 min. The detection limits were 0.01 microg mL(-1) for the enantiomers of MA, AP, DMA, EP and ME, and 0.02 microg mL(-1) for the enantiomers of NE using selected ion monitoring. The reproducibilities of within-run (n = 4) for the migration times and peak areas of the standard mixture were under 0.58% and 7.83%, respectively. The calibration curves of the peak areas of the 12 enantiomers were linear in the range of 0.05 - 10 microg mL(-1). This method was applicable to the analysis of urine samples.