Determination of fentanyl, metabolite and analogs in urine by GC/MS

A rapid and sensitive method for the simultaneous determination of alfentanyl, sufentanyl and fentanyl (and its major metabolite norfentanyl) in urine was developed and validated. The method involved a liquid-liquid extraction in alkaline conditions, derivatization with pentafluoropropionic anhydride to improve the sensitivity for norfentanyl and subsequent analysis in GC/MS. The LODs are 0.08 ng ml(-1) for all substances (0.04 ng ml(-1) for alfentanyl). Intra-and inter-day precision coefficient of variation was always below 15%; mean relative error (accuracy) was always below 15%. The method was linear for all analytes, with quadratic regression of calibration curves always higher than 0.99. The method was applied to real samples of subjects who had received therapeutic doses of fentanyl, showing its suitability for the determination of low levels of these substances. The method was also applied to a subject whose death was attributed to fentanyl overdose. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.