Affiliations: Institut für Organische Chemie der Universität zu Köln, Greinstrasse 4, D‐50939 Köln, Germany | Institut für Rechtsmedizin der Unversität Bonn, Stiftsplatz 12, D‐53111 Bonn, Germany | Klinik und Poliklinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie der Universität zu Köln, Joseph‐Stelzmann‐Strasse 9, D‐50924 Köln, Germany
Abstract: A screening method for tricyclic antidepressants (TCA) and their urinary metabolites by FAB tandem mass spectrometry (FAB MS/MS) is presented. The collision induced dissociation (CID) behavior of pure dibenzocycloheptadienes (amitriptyline 1, nortriptyline 2), dibenzoxepines (doxepine 3, dosulepine 4), dibenzazepines (imipramine 5, desipramine 6, trimipramine 7) and the iminostilbene derivative opipramol 8 is described and used for the specific determination of these tricyclics by MS/MS. For the screening procedure a methanolic extract of the urine sample is passed through a XAD‐2 column and the eluate is examined without further purification after evaporation of the solvent. Identification of the TCA is achieved by constant neutral loss (CNL) scans for 173 u, 195 u and 193 u and subsequent daughter ion spectra of the molecular ions [M+H]^{+}. Glucuronide conjugate metabolites of the tricyclic antidepressants 1, 2, 3, 6, 8 could be identified by CNL‐scans (176 u) and the assignments were confirmed by daughter ion mass spectra. A urine sample of a fatal 1, 2, 8 overdose and samples of three patients under therapeutic dosage with 1, 3 or 6 are presented as examples for application.
Journal: Spectroscopy, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 213-226, 1997
