OPTIMIZATION and VALIDATION of A GC-MS METHOD FOR ANALYSIS of AMPHETAMINES in SYNTHETIC TABLES

Amphetamine is asynthetic stimulant of the central nervous system. It was first synthesized in1887 by German chemist L. Edeleano, however the stimulant effects were notnoticed. In early 1930s, stimulant properties of amphetamine were discovered.Thus, it was marketed as an inhaller for nasal congestion. During World War II,the military in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and Japan usedamphetamines to increase alertness and endurance and to improve mood. Theorigin of the amphetamine sold as Captagon is unknown. Conventionally, thesubstance was believed to have been manufactured illicitly in South-East Europe,notably Bulgaria, and trafficked to the region, often transiting Turkey by airor sea. Amphetamine causes hypertension and tachycardia with feelings ofincreased confidence, sociability and energy. After oral administration, theeffects usually start in 30 minutes and last for many hours. This studyintended to develop and optimize GC-MS method for analysis of amphetamines insynthetic tables which were seized in 15 different places and times and sent tothe Ankara Police Forensic Laboratory, Gölbaşı, Turkey. The GC-MS systemequipped with an Agilent Technologies (CA, USA) 6890, a gas chromatograph andan Agilent 7683B auto injector coupled with a 5973 inert Agilent electronimpact (EI) mass spectrometer was utilized for the identification ofamphetamines in synthetic tables. In order to validate the method in terms ofprecision and recovery; certified reference standard of d-amphetamin. HCL andparacetamol were analyzed for ten times. A secondary standard of amphetamineprepared at the concentration of 0.30 mg/ mL was analyzed for ten times. Meanamphetamine concentration was found 0.30±8.44x10-3 where percent relativestandard deviation was calculated as 2.84%. Successful percent recovery valueswere ranged between 94.64% and 100.49 while GC-MS method for amphetamineanalysis provided LOD and LOQ values equal to 0.0117 mg/mL and 0.0391 mg/mL,respectively.&nbsp