Determination of Illicit Drugs in Urine and Plasma by Micro-SPE Followed by HPLC-MS/MS

Confirmation of identity of forensically relevant compounds, such as drugs of abuse, is a necessary step in medico-legal event controls of people involved in crimes, workplace accidents and driving under the influence of drugs (DUID). Plasma is a useful medium in determining the short-term use of illicit drugs and its analysis is mandatory in the case of DUID in many countries. Urine has been the sample of choice for monitoring drug abuses in workplaces and is subjective to strict regulations. The aim of this work was the development of a fast and reliable confirmatory method for the determination of multiple drugs of abuse belonging to different chemical and toxicological classes: amphetamine, methamphetamine, methylenedioxyamphetamine, methylenedioxyethylamphetamine, methylenedioxymethylamphetamine, cocaine, benzoylecgonine, ketamine, phencyclidine, psilocybin and mescaline. The procedure involves very rapid steps of sample preparation with use of automated micro-SPE. The quantitative analysis is performed by LC-ESI-MS/MS with chromatographic Core Shell (TM) column. The method has been fully validated according to SOFT-AAFS guidelines and applied as confirmatory analysis for real samples coming from agro-industry employees.