1. Department of Forensic Medicine and Science, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, Scotland, UK
2. Department of Chemistry, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ, 85721, USA

The initial extraction was achieved using ISOLUTE^® CONFIRM HCX mixed-mode SPE columns. The drugs were determined using GC/MS with tri-deuterated amphetamine as the internal standard. The problems with volatility were addressed by simple addition of 100µL of tartaric acid (1mg/mL in ethyl acetate) to each standard and analytical sample prior to evaporating to dryness. All of the amphetamine compounds demonstrated significant increases in recovery.

Data is also presented on the kinetics of the derivatisation of these compounds using pentafluoropropionic anhydride. In contrast to many reports in the literature which call for elevated temperatures (> 40°C) for extended times (> 20 minutes) our data shows that the reaction is complete for all species in less than 2 minutes at room temperature. This represents a significant reduction in the total time of analysis. Recoveries were greater than 87% for all five amphetamines from both blood and hair and were linear over the concentration ranges studied (r²> 0.993).