Determination of levamisole and tetramisole in seized cocaine samples by enantioselective high-performance liquid chromatography and circular dichroism detection

  • J Chromatogr A. 2014 Oct 10:1363:150-4. doi: 10.1016/j.chroma.2014.07.069.
Carlo Bertucci  1 ,  Daniele Tedesco  2 ,  Edoardo Fabini  2 ,  Anna Maria Di Pietra  2 ,  Francesca Rossi  3 ,  Marco Garagnani  3 ,  Elia Del Borrello  3 ,  Vincenza Andrisano  4
Affiliations
  • 1. Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Via Belmeloro 6, 40126 Bologna, Italy. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 2. Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Via Belmeloro 6, 40126 Bologna, Italy.
  • 3. Laboratory of Forensic Toxicology, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Via Irnerio 49, 40126 Bologna, Italy.
  • 4. Department for Life Quality Studies, University of Bologna, Corso d'Augusto 237, 47921 Rimini, Italy.
PMID: 25124228 DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2014.07.069
Abstract

Levamisole, an anthelmintic drug, has been increasingly employed as an adulterant of illicit street cocaine over the last decade; recently, the use of tetramisole, the racemic mixture of levamisole and its enantiomer dexamisole, was also occasionally observed. A new enantioselective high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method, performed on cellulose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) chiral stationary phases in normal-phase mode, was validated to determine the enantiomeric composition of tetramisole enantiomers in seized cocaine samples. Furthermore, the hyphenation of the validated HPLC method with a circular dichroism (CD) detection system allowed the direct determination of elution order and a selective monitoring of levamisole and dexamisole in the presence of possible interferences. The method was applied to the identification and quantitation of the two enantiomers of tetramisole in seized street cocaine samples.

Keywords
Circular dichroism detection; Enantioselective HPLC; Levamisole; Seized cocaine samples; Tetramisole.
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