Amphetamine and derivatives in natural weight loss pills and dietary supplements by capillary electrophoresis-tandem mass spectrometry

- A CE-MS approach for amphetamines in weight loss pills is introduced.
- A modified QuEChERS (at high pH) allowed for a simple and efficient cleanup step.
- Recoveries ranging from 85 to 123% were obtained.
- Limits of Detection were lower than 0.06 μg L−1.

A capillary electrophoresis-tandem mass spectrometry (CE-MS/MS) method for amphetamine (AM), phentermine (PTM), methamphetamine (MAM), methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), and methylenedioxyethylamphetamine (MDEA) in commercial samples of homeopathic and phytotherapic medicines and dietary supplements is presented. The samples were submitted to a modified QuEChERS extraction procedure (at apparent pH 13) followed by electrophoretic separation in 0.1 mol L−1 formic acid electrolyte (pH 2.4) and detection by ESI-MS/MS. A polyvinyl alcohol coated capillary was employed to prevent the adsorption of the analytes to the capillary wall. The limits of detection and quantitation were from 0.02 to 0.06 μg L−1 and from 0.06 to 0.21 μg L−1, respectively, with recovery ranging from 85 to 123% and the standard deviations were not greater than 6.1%. In addition, the separation occurs in less than six minutes.