Simultaneous determination for 5 human urinary metabolites of UR-144 and XLR-11 by LC-MS/MS

Abstract

This study aims to explore how the abused synthetic cannabinoids in human urine can be determined qualitatively and quantitatively by using the LC-MS/MS method. As a method validation based on the current FDA guideline, we tested 55 human urine samples (5 from drug-free volunteers and 50 from drug abusers) and evaluated the presence of parent drugs (UR144 and XLR11) and their five metabolites (XLR-11-N-4-Hydroxypentyl, XLR-11-6-Hydroxyindole, UR-144-N-4-Hydroxypentyl, UR-144-N-5-hydroxypentyl, and UR-144-N-pentanoic). The experimental data showed that the values of low limit of detection (LOD) for these analytes ranged from 0.05 to 0.15 ng/mL. Their low limit of quantitation (LLOQ) value was 1.0 ng/mL. The values of linear coefficients of determination (R²) for these analytes ranged from 0.9914 to 0.9988. Among these 50 urine testing samples of drug abusers, the parent XLR-11 and UR-144 analytes were detected only in 4 samples (with a concentration of 2.14 − 4.5 ng/mL) and 3 samples (with a concentration of 3.2 − 5.4 ng/mL), respectively. At the same time, the XLR-11-N-4-Hydroxypentyl (with a concentration of 4.5 − 57.2 ng/mL) and XLR-11-6-Hydroxyindole (with a concentration of 4.8 − 51.7 ng/mL) metabolites were detected in 24 and 11 samples, respectively. In addition, the UR-144-N-4-Hydroxypentyl (with a concentration of 3.5 − 87.24 ng/mL), UR-144-N-5-hydroxypentyl (with a concentration of 14.5-83.9 ng/mL), and UR-144-N-pentanoic (with a concentration of 2.5 − 104.4 ng/mL) metabolites were found in 26, 29, and 38 samples, respectively.

Graphical Abstract

HIGHLIGHTS

• Quantification for 5 metabolites of UR-144 and XLR-11 in 50 human urinary samples with LOD of 0.05 − 0.15 ng/mL and LLOQ of 1.0 ng/mL

• Parent XLR-11 and UR-144 were detected in 4 and 3 samples; XLR-11-N-4-Hydroxypentyl and XLR-11-6-Hydroxyindole metabolites were detected in 24 and 11 samples; UR-144-N-4-Hydroxypentyl, UR-144-N-5-hydroxypentyl, and UR-144-N-pentanoic metabolites were found in 26, 29, and 38 samples.

Keywords:

• Synthetic cannabinoids
• UR-144
• XLR-11
• metabolite
• human urine
• LC-MS/MS

Declarations ethical approval

This material is the author’s original work, which has not been previously published elsewhere.

The manuscript is not currently being considered for publication elsewhere.

The manuscript reflects the authors’ research and analysis truthfully and completely. All of the results are owned by the authors.

Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

Authors’ contributions

All authors are accountable for the content of the manuscript.

Duc Khanh Dang: Formal analysis, Writing–original draft; Viet Hung Tran: Writing–Formal analysis, Investigation; Dai Lam Tran: Review and editing; Viet Chinh Nguyen: Formal analysis, Investigation; Tuan Anh Nguyen: Review and editing

Availability of data and materials

Not applicable.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).