Abstract: A simple, sensitive and reproducible method using microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography (MEEKC)-field amplified sample injection (FASI) was developed for the analysis of nine narcotics (morphine, codeine, naloxone, heroin, thebaine, cocaine, pethidine, fentanyl and methadone) in urine. In the MEEKC method, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), 1-butanol and ethyl acetate were used as surfactant, co-surfactant and organic solvent, respectively. The effects of the acidity and concentration of borate buffer, SDS, 1-butanol and ethyl acetate contents were investigated. The optimum concentrations (by mass fraction) of microemulsion system were 0.6% SDS, 1.2% 1-butanol, 0.6% ethyl acetate and 97.6% 10 mmol/L Na2B4O7 buffer (pH 9.5). The applied voltage was 25 kV. FASI was coupled with the MEEKC method to increase the sensitivity. Under the optimum conditions, the nine narcotics were baseline separated within 15 min and the detection limits (S/N=3) were in the range of 0.3~8.0 μg/L. The spiked recoveries in urine samples were between 79.4% and 119.9% with the intraday relative standard deviations (RSDs) less than 5.5%. The developed method has been successfully applied to the analysis of methadone in the samples from in vitro metabolism study.

Key words: field amplified sample injection, narcotics, urine, microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography （MEEKC）