Citation

Anastos N, Lewis SW, Barnett NW, Sims DN. J. Forensic Sci. 2006; 51(1): 45-51.

Affiliation

School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC 3217, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1556-4029.2005.00033.x

PMID

16423222

Abstract

This paper describes a procedure for the determination of psilocin and psilocybin in mushroom extracts using high-performance liquid chromatography with postcolumn chemiluminescence detection. A number of extraction methods for psilocin and psilocybin in hallucinogenic mushrooms were investigated, with a simple methanolic extraction being found to be most effective. Psilocin and psilocybin were extracted from a variety of hallucinogenic mushrooms using methanol. The analytes were separated on a C12 column using a (95:5% v/v) methanol:10 mM ammonium formate, pH 3.5 mobile phase with a run time of 5 min. Detection was realized through a dual reagent chemiluminescence detection system of acidic potassium permanganate and tris(2,2'-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II). The chemiluminescence detection system gave improved detectability when compared with UV absorption at 269 nm, with detection limits of 1.2 x 10(-8) and 3.5 x 10(-9) mol/L being obtained for psilocin and psilocybin, respectively. The procedure was applied to the determination of psilocin and psilocybin in three Australian species of hallucinogenic mushroom.

Language: en