Development of enantioselective high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for the quantitative determination of 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA) and its phase-1 metabolites in human biological fluids

In the present study enantioselective high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) methods were developed for the quantitative determination of 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA) and its major phase-1 metabolites 4-hydroxy-3-methoxyamphetamine (HMA), 4-hydroxy-3-methoxymethamphetamine (HMMA) and 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) in human plasma, sweat, oral fluid (OF) and urine. The simultaneous separation of all these compounds and their respective enantioseparation was accomplished on two polysaccharide-based chiral columns. The Lux AMP column with a proprietary chiral selector enabled baseline separation of the enantiomers of MDMA, HMA and HMMA while MDA enantiomers could not be separated with this column under the experimental conditions used in this study. The Lux i-Amylose-3 column based on amylose tris(5-chloro-3-methylphenylcarbamate) as chiral selector baseline-separated the enantiomers of MDMA, HMMA and MDA while the enantiomers of HMA could not be separated. Thus, the various samples were analyzed by using both columns alternatively in combinations with acetonitrile containing 25% (v/v) 5 mM ammonium bicarbonate buffer at pH 11.0 as mobile phase. Analysis time was less than 4 min with the Lux AMP column and less than 6 min with the Lux i-Amylose-3 column. Both methods were validated and applied to the enantioselective determination of MDMA and its phase-I metabolites in human biological fluids, and enantioselective metabolism of MDMA was confirmed.