Hygrine (HYG) and
cuscohygrine (
CUS) are natural
alkaloids of coca leaves but are not found in illicit
cocaine seizures. Therefore, they were proposed as markers for coca chewing in contrast to
cocaine abuse in urine and hair testing. In order to examine at which step of the illegal
cocaine production these compounds are lost, coca leaves were processed according to an authentic procedure by extraction with
lime and
kerosene, re-extraction with sulphuric
acid, and precipitation of coca
paste with
ammonia. Non-extracted and extracted coca leaves, acidic extract and coca
paste were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for
cocaine,
ecgonine methyl ester (EME),
cinnamoylcocaine (CIN), HYG, and
CUS. It follows from the results that under these conditions, HYG and
CUS are extracted only to a minor extent by
kerosene and are not precipitated from the acidic re-extract in the coca
paste. Due to this behaviour in illegal
cocaine production, they fulfil the conditions as markers for coca chewing in an optimal way. However, for unambiguous discrimination between coca chewing and
cocaine abuse in human samples, additional markers of manufactured
cocaine are required. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.