Journal of Chromatography B, 881–882 (2012) 107–110 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Journal of Chromatography B j ourna l ho me page: www.elsevier.com/locate/chromb Short communication Determination of N,N-dimethyltryptamine in Mimosa tenuiflora inner barks by matrix solid-phase dispersion procedure and GC–MS Alain Gaujac a,c , Adriano Aquino d , Sandro Navickiene d , Jailson Bittencourt de Andrade a,b,∗ a Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Rua Barão de Jeremoabo, s/n, s.210-214, 40170-115 Salvador-Ba, Brazil b Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia, Centro Interdisciplinar de Energia e Ambiente, Campus Universitário de Ondina, 40170-115 Salvador-Ba, Brazil c Instituto Federal de Educac ¸ ão, Ciência e Tecnologia de Sergipe, Br 101, Km 96, 49100-000 São Cristóvão-Se, Brazil d Departamento de Química, Universidade Federal de Sergipe, Av. Marechal Rondon, s/n, 49100-000 São Cristóvão-Se, Brazil a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 13 September 2011 Accepted 5 November 2011 Available online 16 November 2011 Keywords: N,N-Dimethyltryptamine Mimosa tenuiflora Experimental design MSPD GC–MS a b s t r a c t N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is a potent hallucinogen found in beverages consumed in religion rituals and neo-shamanic practices over the world. Two of these religions, Santo Daime and União do Vegetal (UDV), are represented in countries including Australia, the United States and several European nations. In some of this countries there have been legal disputes concerning the legalization of ayahuasca con- sumption during religious rituals, a beverage rich in DMT. In Brazil, even children and pregnant women are legally authorized to consume ayahuasca in a religious context. A simple and low-cost method based on matrix solid-phase dispersion (MSPD) and gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection (GC–MS) has been optimized for the determination of N,N-dimethyltryptamine in Mimosa tenuiflora inner bark. The experimental variables that affect the MSPD method, such as the amounts of solid-phase and herbal sample, solvent nature, eluate volume and NaOH concentration were optimized using an exper- imental design. The method showed good linearity (r = 0.9962) and repeatability (RSD < 7.4%) for DMT compound, with detection limit of 0.12 mg/g. The proposed method was used to analyze 24 samples obtained locally. The results showed that concentrations of the target compound in M. tenuiflora barks, ranged from 1.26 to 9.35 mg/g for these samples. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction N,N-Dimethyltryptamine is a psychedelic agent widely present in plants [1]. DMT is contained in ayahuasca and in jurema wine, indigenous beverages made with some plants species and consumed in syncretic religions and neo-shamanic rituals. Nowa- days, the use of ayahuasca has become increasingly popular in South America, especially in Brazil, North America and Europe [2,3]. Some species of the Mimosoideae botanical subfamily are considered to be amongst the most potent plant sources of N,N- dimethyltryptamine. Mimosa tenuiflora or “jurema-preta” (black jurema) is a small tree whose barks are used as the main ingredient in jurema wine [3,4]. The extraction procedure is a critical step in the determination of drugs, pollutants and naturally occurring substances in herbal samples. In general, the determination of these compounds includ- ing drugs in plant matrices is accomplished using chromatographic ∗ Corresponding author at: Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Rua Barão de Jeremoabo, s/n, s.210-214, 40170-115 Salvador-Ba, Brazil. Tel.: +55 71 3283 6821; fax: +55 71 3283 6805. E-mail address: jailsong@ufba.br (J.B. de Andrade). techniques and involves preliminary steps including sampling, extraction and clean-up [5]. Matrix solid-phase dispersion (MSPD) is a method that provides a good alternative to traditional extrac- tion techniques for chromatographic analysis. MSPD can be carried out simultaneously with sample homogenization, extraction and clean-up and requires only a small sample size and small amounts of solvent [6]. It avoids the drawbacks generally associated with liquid–liquid extraction, such as the use of large volumes of sol- vent, the occurrence of troublesome emulsions, and slow speed [7–9]. Thus, MSPD is an analytical technique used for extraction of analytes from semi-solid and viscous samples. The principle of the MSPD technique is based on the use of the same bonded-phase solid supports as used in solid-phase extrac- tion (SPE), which are also used as grinding materials for disruption of the sample matrix. During this procedure, the bonded-phase sup- port acts as an abrasive, and the sample disperses over the surface of the support. The classical methods used for sample disruption, such as mincing, shredding, grinding, pulverizing and pressuring are avoided in this procedure, and the MSPD technique has many applications to the processing of samples of biological origin (ani- mal tissues, plant materials, fats, etc.) [10–12]. The sample is placed in a mortar, together with a bonded phase material, and the mix- ture is then crushed with a pestle. Recently, some tryptamines 1570-0232/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jchromb.2011.11.014