Ephedrines detection

A phytochemical investigation of taxine in the yew has been conducted by Kuhn and Schafer, who have devised special methods for the detection, estimation and purification of the alkaloid. Masson states that Taxus canadensis contains an alkaloid giving the colour reactions of taxine but different from it in being crystalline and having m.p. 238-9° no ephedrine was present. 

Fan et al. [106] developed a high performance capillary electrophoresis method for the analysis of primaquine and its trifluoroacetyl derivative. The method is based on the mode of capillary-zone electrophoresis in the Bio-Rad HPE-100 capillary electrophoresis system effects of some factors in the electrophoretic conditions on the separation of primaquine and trifluoroacetyl primaquine were studied. Methyl ephedrine was used as the internal standard and the detection was carried out at 210 nm. A linear relationship was obtained between the ratio of peak area of sample and internal standard and corresponding concentration of sample. The relative standard deviations of migration time and the ratio of peak area of within-day and between-day for replicate injections were <0.6% and 5.0%, respectively. 

As it can be observed in Fig. 2, three out of the 16 investigated compounds, namely, heroin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and its metabolite 2-oxo, 3-hydroxy-LSD (O-H-LSD), were not detected in any wastewater sample. Two other target analytes, 6-acetyl morphine (6ACM) and A9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), were only present in influent wastewaters and with low detection frequencies. The most ubiquitous compounds, present in all influent and effluent wastewater samples analyzed, were the cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine, and the amphetamine-like compounds ephedrine (EPH) and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or ecstasy). Cocaine, cocaethylene (CE, transesterification product of cocaine formed after the joint consumption of cocaine and ethanol), and morphine (MOR) were detected in all influent, but not in all effluent wastewaters (see Fig. 2). 

Sheppard, R. L., Tong, X., Cai, J., and Henion, J. D. (1995). Chiral separation and detection of terbutaline and ephedrine by capillary electrophoresis coupled with ion spray mass spectrometry. Anal. Chem. 67, 2054-2058. 

Heroin and amphetamine-like compounds (amphetamine, methamphetamine, MDMA or ecstasy, (R,R)(—)-pseudoephedrine (PS-EPH), and (lS,2R)(+)-ephed-rine hydrochloride (EPH-HCl), the last two measured together as total ephedrine) have so far only been detected in airborne particulates in Spain (Tables 5, 6 and 7). Mean heroin concentrations ranged between 10 and 50 pg/m (Table 5), with maximum daily levels reaching 80-90 pg/m. The maximum concentrations were detected in Madrid and A Coruna, and seemed to be independent of population size. As for amphetamine-like compounds, airborne levels were always below 15 pg/m ... 

Ephedrine is the pharmacologically active enantiomers of ephe-drine. The enantiopurity tests for (-)-ephedrine can be performed using a peroctylated y-cyclodextrin based plastic membrane electrode [26], Bis (l-butylpentyl)adipate (BBPAP) was used as plasticizer and 10 3 mol/L NH4C1 as inner solution. The slope of the electrode is 60 mV/decade of concentration, and the potentiometric enantioselectivity coefficient is less than 10 4 The limit of detection is of 10 7 mol/L magnitude order. 

However signs do change with the "handedness" of the natural isomer so a higher level of distinction is achieved using CD or polarimetric detection. An enormous advantage is derived from the fact that achiral excipients, such as lidocaine, procaine, and benzocaine, often deliberately added to illicit drug preparations to complicate the chromatographic identifications of amphetamine and methamphetamine, present no interference problem whatsoever to CD detection. ORD detection was developed for the analysis of mixtures of pseudoephedrine and ephedrine [47], which because of the connection between anomalous ORD and CD, should be applicable to CD detection in the UV. 

Limits of detection for many amino acids were enhanced considerably by pre-column derivatization with the achiral reagent dansyl chloride whose function it was to increase their specific rotation [17]. Determinations of the enantiomeric purities for mixtures of D-and L-tryptophan [18] and of isomeric ratios for mixtures of pseudoephedrine and its diastereomer ephedrine [19], were effected using diode-laser polarimetry and using OR detection in series with UV absorbance detection respectively. 

In recent years several sensitive and specific methods for the simultaneous determination of ephedrine alkaloids in plant material have been published. These include thin-layer chromatography (292,426), gas chromatography (251), straight-phase and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (253, 255, 302, 355, 427), isotachophoresis (303, 356), and 13C-NMR (304). Resolution of enantiomeric alkaloids by HPLC has been achieved on chiral stationary phases (417, 418) or after derivatization with a chiral agent on an achiral stationary phase (419). Chromatographic separation and analytical detection of... 

Fumariflorine ethyl ester (1) has been isolated from Fumaria parviflora.1,2 It has been claimed that the product of the reaction between cotarnine and 6-nitropiperonal has the structure (2) rather than the previously accepted (3).3 The anodic oxidation of ephedrine in aqueous buffer, at pH 10, has been re-examined and found to proceed by fission of carbon-carbon rather than carbon-nitrogen bonds, giving benzaldehyde.4 The H n.m.r. spectra of ephedrine and /-ephedrine have been studied5 and quaternary salts of esters of these bases have been prepared.6 Methods for the detection and characterization of mescaline have been published,7,8 and the biological effects of the alkaloid9,10 and its clearance from rabbit lung and liver11 have been studied. 

Ukraine, each of which reported seizures of ephedrine larger than 10 kg. In the Czech Republic, over 400 kitchen laboratories used to manufacture methamphetamine were detected, although the quantities of ephedrine seized were lower than in previous years. A large part of the 65 kg seized in Hungary was made up of ephedrine tablets purportedly manufactured in Turkey by an established pharmaceutical company. No exports or diversion of pharmaceutical preparations originating in Europe were identified during Operation Crystal Flow. 

A 68-year-old man developed total spinal anesthesia after the administration of 20 ml of ropivacaine 1% without a prior test dose via an epidural catheter, which was inadvertently placed intrathecally (83). Initial aspiration of both the Touhy needle and the catheter failed to identify the intrathecal position of the catheter. The patient noted weakness in his right leg immediately after the end of the injection. This was followed by weakness in his right arm, asystole, apnea, and loss of consciousness. Ventricular escape beats were noted and sinus rhythm returned after mask ventilation with 100% oxygen and the administration of atropine 1 mg and ephedrine 50 mg. He was able to open his eyes, but remained apneic and was therefore intubated and ventilated. Cardiovascular stabihty was maintained with incremental boluses of ephedrine to a total of 60 mg. He regained consciousness and was successfully extubated 145 minutes later. AH sensory and motor deficits had resolved within 8 hours and no neurological deficit or transient neurological symptoms were detected 5 days later. 

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