Examination of Postmortem Fluids and Tissues for the Presence of Methylecgonidine, Ecgonidine, Cocaine, and Benzoylecgonine Using Solid-Phase Extraction and Gas Chromatography–Mass

Background: During the smoking of crack cocaine (COC), methyl ecgonidine (MED) is formed as one of the pyrolysis products. Once in the body, MED is converted to ecgonidine (ED) through several processes that include spontaneous hydrolysis and enzymatic hy-drolysis. The presence of MED and/or ED could provide valuable information to help determine antemortem conditions in cases where COC is involved. Our goal was to examine postmortem tissues and fluids for the presence of MED, ED, COC, and benzoylecgonine (BZ). Methods: Liver, brain, blood, and urine specimens ob-tained from 15 postmortem cases were extracted using solid-phase extraction, derivatized, and analyzed using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry with selective-ion monitoring. Results: Median concentrations (range) of drugs ob-served in postmortem liver, brain, blood, and urine were 0 (0–10) ng/g, 7 (0–92) ng/g, 0 (0–42) mg/L, and 62 (0–2030) mg/L, respectively, for MED; 655 (90–3274) ng/g, 22 (0–52) ng/g, 119 (13–773) mg/L, and 456 (109– 7452) mg/L, respectively, for ED; 57 (0–503) ng/g, 187 (0–1403) ng/g, 12 (0–88) mg/L, and 1208 (37–28 062) mg/L