A method using capillary electrophoresis coupled to electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (CE-ESI-MS) was developed to screen for and quantify three designer drugs—DOM, DOET, and DOPR—in urine samples. A simple solid-phase extraction step cleaned up samples before analysis. The method was validated per international guidelines, with accuracy and precision meeting required limits. Calibration curves from 10 to 1000 ng/mL showed correlation coefficients above 0.996.
Thirty new amphetamine designer drugs were tested for cross-reactivity with two commercial immunoassay kits (Neogen® Amphetamine Specific and Methamphetamine/MDMA assays) in whole blood, urine, and oral fluid. For most of the designer drugs, concentrations as high as 10,000 ng/mL failed to produce a positive response. This shows that while the kits work well for their target drugs—amphetamine, methamphetamine, and MDMA—they cannot reliably detect the tested designer drugs in real forensic cases because the required concentrations far exceed those typically found in biological samples.