Formation of artifactual metabolites of doxylamine following acid hydrolysis.

This study describes the use of gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric, high-performance liquid chromatographic and capillary column gas chromatographic separation techniques in demonstrating the production of several artifactual compounds reported in the literature as metabolites of doxylamine. Rhesus monkey urinary extracts which contained doxylamine and doxylamine metabolites were examined with and without acid hydrolysis. The production of 1-phenyl-1-(2-pyridinyl)ethanol and 1-phenyl-1-(2-pyridinyl)ethylene under acid hydrolysis conditions was demonstrated. These artifactual products were shown to originate from the acid hydrolysis of 2-[1-phenyl-1-(2-pyridinyl)ethoxy] acetic acid and not from doxylamine.