Qualitative Screening of Amphetamine- and Ketamine-Type Abuse Drugs in Urine Employing Dual Mode Extraction Column by Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS-MS).
Journal of analytical toxicology January 24, 2023 George Fai Wong, Wing-Man Lee, Chi-Keung Li 9 citations
A fast qualitative screening method for 11 abuse drugs in urine using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was developed. The drugs included methamphetamine, amphetamine, MDMA, MDA, PMMA, ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, ketamine, deschloroketamine, 2-fluorodeschloroketamine, and deschloro-N-ethylketamine. A dual mode extraction column cleaned up the urine matrix. Detection limits were 3 ng/mL for most amphetamines, 10 ng/mL for ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, and 1 ng/mL for ketamine and its analogs. Matrix effects ranged from -12% to 7%. The method is suitable for forensic toxicology and analysis of drugs in sexual assault and other criminal cases.