Automated extraction of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and N-demethyl-LSD from blood, serum, plasma, and urine samples using the Zymark RapidTrace with LC/MS/MS confirmation.

J de Kanel, W E Vickery, B Waldner, R M Monahan, F X Diamond

Index: J. Forensic Sci. 43(3) , 622-5, (1998)

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Abstract

A forensic procedure for the quantitative confirmation of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and the qualitative confirmation of its metabolite, N-demethyl-LSD, in blood, serum, plasma, and urine samples is presented. The Zymark RapidTrace was used to perform fully automated solid-phase extractions of all specimen types. After extract evaporation, confirmations were performed using liquid chromatography (LC) followed by positive electrospray ionization (ESI+) mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (MS/MS) without derivatization. Quantitation of LSD was accomplished using LSD-d3 as an internal standard. The limit of quantitation (LOQ) for LSD was 0.05 ng/mL. The limit of detection (LOD) for both LSD and N-demethyl-LSD was 0.025 ng/mL. The recovery of LSD was greater than 95% at levels of 0.1 ng/mL and 2.0 ng/mL. For LSD at 1.0 ng/mL, the within-run and between-run (different day) relative standard deviation (RSD) was 2.2% and 4.4%, respectively.