Beta-Hydroxybutyric Acid as a Template for the X-ray Powder Diffraction Analysis of Gamma-Hydroxybutyric Acid.

In this paper, we report the possibility of using the X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) technique to detect gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) in the form of its sodium salt in different beverages, but because it is not possible to freely buy GHB, beta-hydroxybutyric acid (BHB) and its sodium salt (NaBHB) were used as a model to fine-tune an X-ray diffraction method for the qualitative analysis of the sodium salt of GHB. The method requires only a small quantity of beverage and an easy sample preparation that consists only of the addition of NaOH to the drink and a subsequent drying step. The dry residue obtained can be easily analyzed with XRPD using a single-crystal X-ray diffractometer, which exploits its high sensitivity and allows for very fast pattern collection.