Psilocin derivatization

GC-MS Analysis It should be noted that psilocybin converts to psilocin by thermal dephosphorylation and hence derivatization of the sample is preferred if psilocybin is to be observed in the mass spectrum. A number of methods for achieving... 

HPLC can conveniently be used to quantify psilocin and psilocybin in drug samples. As a quantitative method, it has a number of advantages over GC-MS. For example, HPLC does not require any thermal stability of the drug and hence derivatization is not needed. This eliminates the problems associated with ensuring complete derivatization and the risk of sample contamination. Although a number of reported HPLC analytical methods can be found in the literature, we will illustrate the procedure involved by describing a relatively simple method which has been recently reported by Musshoff et al. [4]. 

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