Analysis of Amines by EMIT, TOXI-Lab, and Gas Chromatography/ Mass Spectroscopy
Anthony Cappellano
Marta Concheiro-Guisan
FOS 416
6 May 2015
Introduction
A variety of techniques can be used to determine the presence of amphetamines and methamphetamines within a given urine sample. These methods include EMIT screening, Toxi-Lab, and GC-MS. EMIT screening can be used to determine the presence or absence of amphetamine and methamphetamines in a urine sample. EMIT works on the basic principle of production of NADH in a competition reaction. Anti-body binding sites are being competed for between the drug in the sample and an enzyme labelled drug. The epitope of the drug is recognized by the antibody, which then neutralizes the drug present in the…show more content… Upon dipping in Toxi-Dip 2-A (Figure 2 in Appendix) the spots were seen to be a mustard yellow color. After dipping in DI water (Figure 3 in Appendix) the spots began to turn a greenish color. Analyzing the toxi-gram under UV light it was determined that the spots fluoresced (Figure 4 in Appendix). Upon dipping in Toxi-Dip A-3 the spots turned a brownish tint (Figure 5 in Appendix). The unknown spots Rf values were calculated to be 0.189. The color changes and the Rf value all were consistent with known results for Ephedrine. Using GCMS as a confirmatory method the concentration of Ephedrine was calculated to be 48.24 ng/mL. The peak area obtained for the ephedrine unknown was found to be 196430 and an internal standard ratio of 889343. The peak area ratio obtained was 0.211 this can be seen in calculation 2 in the appendix. The peak area ratio was obtained for all the standards in this same way (Table 1). The standard peak area ratios were then plotted against each concentration to form a calibration curve (Figure 5). The concentration of ephedrine was then calculated using the method shown in calculation 3.