Troubleshooting LC-MS/MS Peak Shape and Recovery Problems for Polar Opiates

While supporting multiple research laboratories developing reversed-phase LC-MS/MS methods to analyze diluted urine samples for polar opiates such as morphine, normorphine, hydromorphone and morphine glucuronides, several instances of peak fronting were encountered, peak splitting as well as poor recoveries as some of the analyte molecules eluted as “breakthrough” peaks far ahead of their expected retention times.