Field-amplified sample stacking capillary zone electrophoresis applied to the analysis of opiate drugs in hair

The present paper describes the methodological optimization and validation of capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) for the determination of major opiates (morphine, codeine, 6-monoacetylmorphine, acetylcodeine, heroin) in hair samples by using a field-amplified sample stacking injection before the separation in a binary running buffer (0.1 M sodium phosphate, pH 2.5, with 40% ethylene glycol). The applied potential was 20 kV, at 25°C. Detection was by UV absorption at the fixed wavelength of 214 nm or by recording the full spectrum between 190—400 nm, thus improving the analytical selectivity and identification power of CZE. Hair samples were liquid/liquid extracted; dried extracts, reconstituted with a low-conductivity solvent (0.1 mM phosphoric acid, with 80% 1-propanol), were injected by electromigration at 10 kV for 99 s, after a 0.5 mm plug of water. Under the described conditions, the limit of detection (with a signal-to-noise ratio of 3) in hair extracts was 100 pg/mL for codeine, 75 pg/mL for morphine and 6-monoacetylmorphine (6-MAM), 150 pg/mL for ethylmorphine, and 0.75 ng/mL for acetylcodeine and heroin. The precision of the method was validated for standards in pure solution by using internal standardization, providing for intraday and day-to-day assays, in terms of migration times, relative standard deviation (RSD) values ≤0.2%, and in terms of peak areas, RSD values <5.71%