• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.698-703
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• 1997

Recently, l-deprenyl (selegiline), a relative new antiparkinson`s drug, has been marketed in Korea. As its metabolites, l-methamphetamine and l-amphetamine, are the enantiomers of illicit drugs,d-methamphetamine and d-amphetamine, a method for analysis of enantiomers of methamphetamine and amphetamine in rat urine was investigated. The optical isomers of methamphetamine and amphetamine were analyzed with the chiral derivatizing reagent (S)-(-)-N-(trifluoroacetyl)-prolyl chloride (l-TFP), which was used to form the diastereomers of methamphetamine and amphetamine. And all diastereomers (l-TFP -l-AM, lTFP-d-AM, l-TFP-l-MA & l-TFP-d-MA) were well resolved by capillary gas chromatography. After administration of 10mg/kg l-deprenyl to rat, l-methamphetamine and l-amphetamine were detected without autoracemization to the d form in all urine samples collected during 24hrs, and the ratios of l-amphetamine/l-methamphetamine were 1.1~3.3. l-Amphetamine was detected in only 3 out of 8 urine samples collected during 24~48hrs where as no l-methamphetamine was detected in all cases.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.277-282
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• 1997

Methamphetamine, which is the most commonly abused drug in Korea, exists in terms of d-, l- isomers and a racemate(dl). d-Methamphetamine is a potent central nervous system stimulant, whereas l-Methamphetamine is sold freely as a nasal decongestant. In addition, methamphetamine appears in different ratios of optical isomers by the clandestine synthesis applied. In this study, enetiomeric separation of methamphetamines was estabilished to distinguish the chirality of methamphetamines trafficked and abused in Korea. A gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer(GC/MS) system equipped with an achiral capillary column is used to isolate the isomers of methamphetamine after (S)-N-(trifluoroacetyl)-l-prolyl(TFP) deravatization.After analyzing 10 illicit methamphetamine powders and 10 positive urine samples, following findings were found: d-Methamphetamine was well resolved from l-Methamphetamine by chromatographic separation of TFP derivatibes on DB-5 with retention time of 11.80 and 11.35 min respectively. The detection of d-Methamphetamine in all 10 powders and 10 urine samples proves that all methamphetamines abused in Korea are illegally manyfactured and administred.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.101-107
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• 1998

The antiparkinsonian agent l-deprenyl, a selective monoamine oxidase (MAO)-B inhibitor, is metabolized in part to l-methamphetamine and l-amphetamine. l< /I>-Deprenyl was evaluated for amphetamine and methamphetamine-like discriminative stimulus effects in rats and its mechanism of action was investigated. Rats were trained under a 5-response, fixed ratio schedule of stimulus-shock termination or a 10-response. Fixed-ratio schedule of food-presentation which discriminate between d-amphetamine (1mg/kg, i.p.) and saline or d-methamphetamine (1mg/kg, i.p.) and saline in a two-lever, operant conditioning procedure. Full generalization was obtained to d-amphetamine (1~3mg/kg). d-methamphetamine (1~3mg/kg) and l-deprenyl (17~30mg/kg) under both the food presentation and stimulus shock termination schedule. l-Deprenyl has dose-dependent amphetamine-and methamphetamine-like discriminative stimulus properties in rats only at doses of 17 and 30mg/kg. Reversible MAO-B inhibitor, RO 16-6491 didn`t show any amphetamine-like discriminative properties. Aromatic amino acid decarboxylase inhibitor, NSD 1015 decreased % responding of l-deprenyl in the methamphetamine-trained rats under the stimulus-shock termination schedule. SKF-525A produced partial inhibition of methamphetamine-like discriminative effects of l-deprenyl under the food presentation schedule. These results suggest that l-deprenyl has no abuse liability at the therapeutic range but there needs some caution at high doses and furthermore, drug discrimination studies under the food presentation and shock termination schedule are useful for the assessment of abuse liability of psychostimulants.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.163-172
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• 2019

Methamphetamine (MA) is currently the most abused illicit drug in Korea and its major metabolite is amphetamine (AP). As MA exist as two enantiomers with the different pharmacological properties, it is necessary to determine their respective amounts in a sample. Thus a chiral stationary phase liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric (LC-MS/MS) method was developed for identification and quantification of d-MA, l-MA, d-AP, and l-AP in human urine. Urine sample ($200{\mu}L$) was diluted with pure water and purified using solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridge. A $5-{\mu}L$ aliquot of SPE treated sample solution was injected into LC-MS/MS system. Chiral separation was carried out on the Astec Chirobiotic V2 column with an isocratic elution for each enantiomer. Identification and quantification of enantiomeric MA and AP was performed using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) detection mode. Linear regression with a $1/x^2$ as the weighting factor was applied to generate a calibration curve. The linear ranges were 25-1000 ng/mL for all compounds. The intra- and inter-day precisions were within 3.6 %, while the intra- and inter-day accuracies ranged from -5.4 % to 11.8 %. The limits of detection were 2.5 ng/mL (d-MA), 3.5 ng/mL (l-MA), 7.5 ng/mL (d-AP), and 7.5 ng/mL (l-AP). Method validation parameters such as selectivity, matrix effect, and stability were evaluated and met acceptance criteria. The applicability of the method was tested by the analysis of genuine forensic urine samples from drug abusers. d-MA is the most common compound found in urine and mainly used by abusers.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.228-234
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• 2013

Methamphetamine is an amine-containing illegal drug and is distributed unlawfully in South Korea. Finding a rapid, convenient and semi-quantitative determination method for methamphetamine is a very important issue in the area of forensic drug testing. As an effort to develop new screening method, the reactions between three organic compounds which are structurally similar to methamphetamine and N-(9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyloxy) succinimide (FMOC-NHS) were performed on silica gel ($SiO_2$) TLC plates. Three reference compounds were synthesized and used for the identification, comparison and study of the limit of detection (LOD) of the products obtained from a direct reaction on a TLC plate. As a result, FMOC-NHS as a derivatization reagent generated compounds containing highly UV-active functional groups on the TLC plate after reacting with primary- and secondary amines. In the experiment 2D the LOD of amines was in the range of 0.045 and 0.01 mg/mL ($2{\mu}L/spot$), and in 1D the LOD was in the range of 0.002 and 0.007 mg/mL ($2{\mu}L/spot$). The LODs of the compounds tested were dependent on the concentration of the derivatizing reagent.