Determination of four thiophenethylamine designer drugs (2C-T-4, 2C-T-8, 2C-T-13, 2C-T-17) in human urine by capillary electrophoresis/mass spectrometry.

An analytical procedure for the simultaneous determination in human urine of four thiophenethylamine designer drugs (2C-T series) is reported. The quantitative analysis was performed by capillary electrophoresis with mass spectrometric detection (CE/MS), using 2,5-dimethoxy-4-methylthiophenethylamine-D(4) (2C-T-D(4)) as internal standard. In order to minimize interferences with matrix components and to preconcentrate target analytes, solid-phase extraction (SPE) was introduced in the method as a clean-up step. The method was validated according to international guidelines. The data for accuracy and precision were within required limits. Calibration curves were generated over the range from 10 to 500 ng mL(-1) and correlation coefficients always exceeded 0.997. The method was demonstrated to be specific, sensitive, and reliable for the analysis of these derivatives in urine samples.