Separation and detection of phencyclidine in urine by gas chromatography

A rapid, sensitive and selective analytical procedure for phencyclidine and one of its metabolites in urine has been developed. Three techniques have been studied for extraction of the drug from the biological matrix: (a) reversed-phase XAD resin, (b) charcoal absorption, and (c) solvent extraction using chloroform. Temperature-programmed gas chromatography was used to quantitate the illicit drug. Solvent extraction appears to offer the most efficient separation of the drug and its metabolite, as the recovery was 94% and the technique required only 7-8 min per sample. Reversed-phase column extraction is also quite useful; although more time-consuming for an individual sample, it would be useful for screening purposes.