Impurity profiling of ephedrines in methamphetamine by high-performance liquid chromatography

Separation of the enantiomers and diastereomers of ephedrines was investigated for impurity profiling of methamphetamine. We describe a method for the analysis of (1S,2R)-(+)-ephedrine, (1R,2S)-(−)-ephedrine, (1S,2S)-(+)-pseudoephedrine and racemic methylephedrine in bulk methamphetamine by HPLC using two different columns: a phenyl-β-cyclodextrin-type column and an ODS-type column. The analytes were detected by UV absorbance measurement at 210 nm. As little as 0.05% of each ephedrine in bulk methamphetamine could be determined. In the impurity profiling of methamphetamine, the identification of ephedrines may provide valuable information about the precursor. This method was confirmed to be sufficiently sensitive to identify trace amounts of (1R,2S)-(−)-ephedrine and (1S,2S)-(+)-pseudoephedrine in bulk methamphetamine synthesized by the Emde method.