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Separation of positional CPP isomers by chiral HPLC-DAD of seized tablets

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Abstract

Meta-chlorophenylpiperazine, one of the synthetic piperazine-derived designer drugs, is to date controlled as an illicit substance in five European member states. Depending on the position of the chlorine atom, different positional isomers of CPP (ortho-, meta- and para-) are possible. Therefore, there is a need to develop an analytical method for the separation and identification of the three 1-chlorophenylpiperazines in tablets containing CPP. In this work, the position isomers o-, m- and p-CPP were separated by liquid chromatography (HPLC) on a reversed-phase chiral column. Different mobile phase compositions and pH ranges were systematically studied to find optimum chromatographic conditions. Best results were achieved with isocratic mobile phase of triethyl amine buffer and methanol (V/V = 70/30) at pH 9 with a flow rate of 0.8 ml/min. The method was validated in terms of selectivity, linearity, limit of detection and quantification and precision. At last, the developed method was successfully applied on seized ecstasy tablets.

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Abbreviations

CPP:

Chlorophenylpiperazine

o:

Ortho

m:

Meta

p:

Para

MDMA:

Methylendioxymethamphetamine

QC:

Quality control

LOD:

Limit of detection

LOQ:

Limit of quantification

RSD:

Relative standard deviation

S/N ratio:

Signal-to-noise ratio

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Forensic Medicine Münster, Röntgenstr. 23, 48149, Münster, Germany

    Jennifer Schürenkamp, Heidi Pfeiffer & Helga Köhler

  2. Institute of Forensic Medicine Cologne, Melatengürtel 60-62, 50823, Cologne, Germany

    Justus Beike

Authors
  1. Jennifer Schürenkamp
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  2. Justus Beike
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  3. Heidi Pfeiffer
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  4. Helga Köhler
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Correspondence to Jennifer Schürenkamp.

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Schürenkamp, J., Beike, J., Pfeiffer, H. et al. Separation of positional CPP isomers by chiral HPLC-DAD of seized tablets. Int J Legal Med 125, 95–99 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-010-0422-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-010-0422-z

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