Journal of forensic sciencesJun 3, 1998

Automated detection of LSD and its main breakdown product in blood and urine samples confirmed by chemical analysis

Psychedelic Science Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗

Updated Mar 30, 2026

Abstract

The limit of quantitation (LOQ) for LSD was 0.05 ng/mL.

A forensic procedure confirms the presence of LSD and its metabolite, N-demethyl-LSD, in various biological samples.
Both LSD and N-demethyl-LSD have a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.025 ng/mL.
The recovery rate for LSD exceeds 95% at concentrations of 0.1 ng/mL and 2.0 ng/mL.
At a concentration of 1.0 ng/mL, the within-run relative standard deviation (RSD) is 2.2%, while the between-run RSD is 4.4%.

Simplified

A forensic procedure for the quantitative confirmation of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and the qualitative confirmation of its metabolite, N-demethyl-LSD, in blood, serum, plasma, and urine samples is presented. The Zymark RapidTrace was used to perform fully automated solid-phase extractions of all specimen types. After extract evaporation, confirmations were performed using liquid chromatography (LC) followed by positive electrospray ionization (ESI+) mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (MS/MS) without derivatization. Quantitation of LSD was accomplished using LSD-d3 as an internal standard. The limit of quantitation (LOQ) for LSD was 0.05 ng/mL. The limit of detection (LOD) for both LSD and N-demethyl-LSD was 0.025 ng/mL. The recovery of LSD was greater than 95% at levels of 0.1 ng/mL and 2.0 ng/mL. For LSD at 1.0 ng/mL, the within-run and between-run (different day) relative standard deviation (RSD) was 2.2% and 4.4%, respectively.

Automated detection of LSD and its main breakdown product in blood and urine samples confirmed by chemical analysis

Abstract

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

What Lands in Your Inbox Each Week:

Recent issues from the psychedelic science brief

Abstract

Related papers

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

What Lands in Your Inbox Each Week:

Recent issues from the psychedelic science brief