Abstract
Determination of psychoactive drugs in the context of clinical and forensic toxicology, down to the low ng/mL range from only 250 μL of blood plasma or serum, is described in this work. A compre- hensively automated “multi method” based on solid-phase ex- traction (SPE) coupled online to LC–MS/MS is used to determine 65 compounds, including benzodiazepines, various sedatives, antidepressants, antipsychotics, methadone, and their relevant metabolites. The method has been fully validated for 52 of those compounds following the guidelines of the Society of Toxicologi- cal and Forensic Chemistry (GTFCh). Semi-quantitative or qualita- tive determination of some less relevant drugs and metabolites is also included in this work.
Introduction
Psychoactive drugs play a major role in clinical or forensic cases investigated by toxicology laboratories. In addition to typical illicit drugs, such as, for example, amphetamines, opioids, and cannabi- noids, so-called new psychoactive substances (NPS) are often sold via the internet as legal highs, bath salts, or research chemicals. This trend has emerged in the last decade.
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