Screening for illicit drugs in pooled human urine and urinated soil samples and studies on the stability of urinary excretion products of cocaine, MDMA, and MDEA in wastewater by hyphenated mass spectrometry techniques

Wastewater-based epidemiology can track community drug use, but biomarkers are often diluted. Pooled urine and urinated soil from festivals were screened for illicit drug excretion products. Cocaine and ecstasy-like compounds were most frequent. A method was developed to quantify their excretion products. Hydroxymethoxymethamphetamine (HMMA), MDMA, MDA, HMMA sulfate, benzoylecgonine, and cocaethylene retained 85–102% of initial concentration after 8 hours, while cocaine and ecgonine methyl ester dropped to 74% and 67%, respectively. HMMA increased over 24 hours, likely from conjugate cleavage and MDMA biotransformation. HMMA is suggested as a stable analytical target for MDMA consumption in wastewater.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Monitoring population drug use through wastewater‐based epidemiology (WBE) is a useful method to quantitatively follow trends and estimate total drug consumption in communities. Concentrations of drug biomarkers might be low in wastewater due to dilution; and therefore analysis of pooled urine (PU) is useful to detect consumed drugs and identify targets of illicit drugs use. The aims of the study were (1) to screen PU and urinated soil (US) samples collected at festivals for illicit drug excretion products using hyphenated techniques; (2) to develop and validate a hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography – mass spectrometry / mass spectrometry (HILIC‐MS/MS) method of quantifying urinary targets of identified drugs in wastewater; and (3) to conduct a 24 h stability study, using PU and US to better reflect the chemical environment for targets in wastewater. Cocaine (COC) and ecstasy‐like compounds were the most frequently detected illicit drugs; an analytical method was developed to quantify their excretion products. Hydroxymethoxymethamphetamine (HMMA), 3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), 3,4‐methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), HMMA sulfate (HMMA‐S), benzoylecgonine (BE), and cocaethylene (CE) had 85–102% of initial concentration after 8 h of incubation, whereas COC and ecgonine methyl ester (EME) had 74 and 67% after 8 h, respectively. HMMA showed a net increase during 24 h of incubation (107% ± 27, n = 8), possibly due to the cleavage of HMMA conjugates, and biotransformation of MDMA. The results suggest HMMA as analytical target for MDMA consumption in WBE, due to its stability in wastewater and its excretion as the main phase I metabolite of MDMA. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.