Determination of Ketamine, Methamphetamine, and 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine from Human Urine by Capillary Electrophoresis with Ultra-Violet Detection

Since the 1980s, club drugs have been used to enhance sociability at gatherings such as raves and parties, and

many of these drugs have been associated with drug-facilitated sexual assaults. A novel, sensitive, accurate, and reproducible CE-UV method was developed targeting three common club drugs: methamphetamine,

3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, and ketamine. The capillary electrophoresis system was a Beckman P/ACE m5000 System with a 50pm i.d. uncoated fused-silica capillary regulated at a constant 25°C. The amount of each drug is quantitated in the range of 25-300 pg/ml using UV detection at 214nm. The method accommodates an unfiltered human urine sample and separation of the drugs from matrix peaks is facilitated by a 0.05 M phosphate run buffer at pH 3.0, a run voltage of 30 kV, and methanol as an organic modifier. This bioanalytical method requires minimal sample preparation and sample volume and has a run time of less than 7 minutes.