SCREENING OF SOME NATURAL AND SYNTHETIC DRUGS BY CHROMATOGRAPHY-MASS SPECTROMETRY
The possibility of development of a universal and express method of screening of natural and synthetic narcotic compounds (“designer drugs”) using as example 52 most common compounds - alkaloids (tropane, opioids), α-aminoarylketones and a number of N-alkylindolyl and, N-alkylindolyzyl ketones. A narcotic compound identification scheme was suggested, including sample preparation procedure that is rapid and provides complete extraction of the analyzed components from the surface of the herbal matrix. Consequent determination of compounds by UHPLC-MS/MS and GC-MS affords high reliability and accuracy. The suggested analytical method was evaluated using 23 real samples. Time for UPLC-MS/MS analysis and GC-MS are 10 and 20 minutes respectively. Retention indices and major ions were defined for all studied drugs during GC analysis. For all compounds determinated at least two MRM-transitions for UPLC-MS/MS identifying compounds which, together with the retention time as well as the results obtained using GC-MS and also makes possible the determination of trace amounts of substances. Assessment of the reliability and reproducibility of results were controlled using WADA criteria.