Journal of Forensic Medicine ›› 2022, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (5): 595-600.DOI: 10.12116/j.issn.1004-5619.2022.320701

• Original Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Detection of Synthetic Cannabinoid CUMYL-PEGACLONE in E-Cigarette Oil and Hair

Tai-feng JIAO(), Ya-qing LI, Gang KANG, Shen-shu CHEN, Liang-hong CHENG()   

  1. Guangdong Nantian Institute of Forensic Science, Shenzhen 518003, Guangdong Province, China
  • Received:2022-07-13 Online:2022-10-25 Published:2022-10-28
  • Contact: Liang-hong CHENG

Abstract:

Objective To establish a combined high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method to detect the synthetic cannabinoid CUMYL-PEGACLONE in e-cigarette oil and hair. Methods HPLC-MS/MS and GC-MS were used to establish the detection method of CUMYL-PEGACLONE, and the hair of drug-involved persons and the seized e-cigarette oil were detected. Results The main mass spectrometry characteristic ions m/z of CUMYL-PEGACLONE measured by GC-MS were 91, 179, 197, 254 and 372. CUMYL-PEGACLONE had a good linear relationship in the mass concentration range of 2-50 ng/mL, and the linear correlation coefficient (r) was greater than 0.99. The limit of detection (LOD) of CUMYL-PEGACLONE in hair was 0.01 ng/mg, and the limit of quantitation (LOQ) was 0.02 ng/mg. The LOD of CUMYL-PEGACLONE in e-cigarette oil was 1 ng/mg, and the LOQ was 2 ng/mg. The average recoveries of CUMYL-PEGACLONE under the attempt at high, intermediate and low levels in blank human hair and e-cigarette oil matrix were 98.2%-132.4% and 93.5%-110.6%, and the intraday and intraday precision were 1.2%-12.9% and 0.7%-2.9%. CUMYL-PEGACLONE was detected in the hair of 15 drug-involved persons. Except for 1 person who was lower than LOQ, the concentration of CUMYL-PEGACLONE in the hair of other 14 persons was 0.035-0.563 ng/mg. The mass fraction of CUMYL-PEGACLONE in 2 e-cigarette oil were 0.17% and 0.21%, respectively. Conclusion The established HPLC-MS/MS and GC-MS methods are applied to the detection of HPLC-MS/MS in drug-related cases, which provides strong evidence support for the handling authority to quickly investigate these cases, and also provides a reference for the identification of such substances in future.

Key words: forensic toxicology, synthetic cannabinoid, high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), CUMYL-PEGACLONE

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