Acetylcodeine as a Marker of Illicit Heroin in Human Hair: Method Validation and Results of a Pilot Study

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Published: Journal of Analytical Toxicology, ISSN 0146-4760, Volume 25, Number 2, March 2001, pp. 106-111

Acetylcodeine as a Marker of Illicit Heroin in Human Hair: Method Validation and Results of a Pilot Study
Christèle Girod and Christian Staub*
Institute of Forensic Medicine, Av. de Champel 9, CH-1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland

Acetylcodeine (AC), which is an impurity of illicit heroin synthesis, was suggested as a marker of heroin abuse. A procedure for simultaneous quantitation of 6-monoacetylmorphine (6-MAM), which is the major metabolite of heroin, morphine, codeine, and AC in hair was developed. Fifty-milligram hair samples were incubated in 0.01M HCl overnight at 60°C. The resulting hydrolyzed solutions were extracted by an automated solid-phase extraction procedure and drugs were analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry in selected ion monitoring mode (SIM). This required prior derivatization with propionic anhydride. Different validation parameters, such as linearity, intra-assay accuracy, extraction recoveries, and limit of quantitation, were described. Seventy-three hair samples from heroin abusers and 43 hair samples from subjects who had completed a heroin-maintenance program were analyzed. AC was detected in 92% of the first sample group and in only 12% of the second sample group. In the two groups, about 98% of AC-positive samples were found. These results prove that AC can be considered as a suitable marker of illicit heroin use, along with 6-MAM detection.

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