Detecting Synthetic Opioids With an Agilent HPLC and Poroshell Column

Opioid abuse continues to pose a huge threat in the medical community. Unintentional overdose deaths involving opioid pain relievers have more than quadrupled since 1999 and have outnumbered those involving heroin and cocaine since 2002.

Researchers use an Agilent HPLC and Poroshell Column to detect this threat. Russell Lee of Agilent reports:

Now, authorities are seeing more designer and synthetic opioids, which are even stronger than prescription opioids.

Here’s the bad news: synthetic opioid fentanyl is 10 times deadlier than heroin.  A 3-milligram dose is enough to kill an average adult male. (statnews)  New York authorities recently confiscated nearly 195 pounds of fentanyl. (NBC) 

Here’s the even worse news: synthetic opioid carfentanil hydrochloride is 100 times deadlier than fentanyl.  A 20-microgram dose is enough to kill an average adult male.  In the U.S. alone, there have been 400 confirmed deaths from carfentanil. (Forensic Chemistry)

Authorities were concerned that these drugs would be difficult to detect in humans, given the extremely low doses.  But following a recent single-vehicle accident, Florida scientists were able to confirm the presence of carfentanil and fentanyl in the driver’s blood.  They used an Agilent LC equipped with a Poroshell column.  It was the first report of a DUI case where carfentanil and synthetic opioids were confirmed and described in a human performance blood sample.

An Alberta toxicology laboratory is the first in Canada to develop a test that can reliably detect carfentanil in a routine blood screen.  They also use Positive Pressure Manifolds(first photo) to semi-automate sample preparation and used an Agilent LC, as pictured in this news article (third photo).

U.S. scientists had earlier developed a sensitive, semi-automated method for analyzing 13 fentanils, including carfentanil, in human urine.  Their method uses an Agilent HPLC system.

Detecting synthetic opioids are more challenging than detecting standard opioids. For now, researchers need to have the proper equipment to stay on top of the threat and detect these synthetic opioids in blood and urine. Chrom Tech supplies replacement parts for Agilent HPLCs and Mass Spectrometers and Poroshell columns Florida and Alberta scientists used to detect carfentanil as well as parts for the Agilent HPLC system.

More research is needed to fully detect synthetic opioids, but as this epidemic increases researches can detect traces of carfentanil to determine synthetic opioid use. 

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