Aim: THC-COOH is the major metabolite of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol commonly tested in urine to determine cannabis intake. In this study, a method based on dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction was developed for testing THC-COOH in urine. Materials & methods: Hydrolyzed urine specimens were extracted via dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction with acetonitrile (disperser solvent) and chloroform (extraction solvent). Derivatization was performed with N,O-Bis(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide with 1% trichloro(chloromethyl)silane. Analysis was performed by GC-MS/MS. Results: The method showed acceptable linearity (5-500 ng/ml), imprecision (<10.5%) and bias (<4.9%). Limits of detection and quantitation were 1 and 5 ng/ml, respectively. Twenty-four authentic samples were analyzed, with 22 samples being positive for THC-COOH. Conclusion: The proposed method is more environmentally friendly and provided good sensitivity, selectivity and reproducibility.
Keywords: GC–MS/MS; THC-COOH; cannabinoids; cannabis; clinical toxicology; dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction; forensic toxicology; green analytical toxicology.
Tweetable abstract Green analytical toxicology: Dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction applied to the analysis of THC-COOH in urine by GC–MS/MS.