LC/MS/MS Analysis of Metabolites of Synthetic Cannabinoids JWH-018 and JWH-073 in Urine

In this application note a liquid chromatographic and extraction method for metabolites JWH-018 and JWH–073 are described. They were developed to recover a broad range of synthetic cannabinoid metabolites in human urine samples, including carboxylic acid metabolites that are not traditionally recovered using a high pH liquid/liquid extraction. In addition to the identification of known metabolites, two previously undocumented metabolites were detected. The methods established here can be applied in clinical and forensic laboratories to optimize screening procedures for synthetic cannabinoid metabolites in urine.