The analysis of lysergide (LSD): the development of novel enzyme immunoassay and immunoaffinity extraction procedures together with an HPLC-MS confirmation procedure.

A forensic procedure for the screening and confirmation of the presence of lysergide (lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD) in urine is described together with the evaluation of a novel enzyme immunoassay (EIA) and immunoaffinity extraction procedure. Following initial screening using either an established radioimmunoassay (RIA) or a novel EIA procedure, a quantitative estimate is established using a conventional high performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence (HPLC) technique following solid phase extraction. Final confirmation and quantitation, without derivatization, is established using HPLC in combination with electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrometry using methysergide as an internal standard. The detection limit of LSD in urine is 0.5 ng/mL. A blind trial confirmed the validity of the results. The choice of internal standard is discussed. Consideration is given to the photosensitivity of LSD solutions. A study of potential interferants in the HPLC-MS confirmation of LSD is presented and shows that for the wide range of compounds studied, there are none that would interfere with this confirmation technique. A comparison is shown between solid phase and immunoaffinity extraction/clean up procedures, and between RIA and EIA screening procedures.