title: (Un)targeted Scanning of Locks of Hair for Drugs of Abuse by Direct Analysis in Real Time-High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry.
abstract: Forensic hair evidence can be used to obtain retrospective timelines of drug use by analysis of hair segments. However, this is a laborious and time-consuming process, and mass spectrometric (MS) imaging techniques, which show great potential for single-hair targeted analysis, are less useful due to differences in hair growth rate between individual hairs. As an alternative, a fast untargeted analysis method was developed that uses direct analysis in real time-high-resolution mass spectrometry (DART-HRMS) to longitudinally scan intact locks of hair without extensive sample preparation or segmentation. The hair scan method was validated for cocaine against an accredited liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) method. The detection limit for cocaine in hair was found to comply with the cutoff value of 0.5 ng/mg recommended by the Society of Hair Testing; that is, the DART hair scan method is amenable to forensic cases. Under DART conditions, no significant thermal degradation of cocaine occurred. The standard DART spot size of 5.1 ± 1.1 mm could be improved to 3.3 ± 1.0 mm, corresponding to approximately 10 days of hair growth, by using a high spatial resolution exit cone. By use of data-dependent product ion scans, multiple drugs of abuse could be detected in a single drug user hair scan with confirmation of identity by both exact mass and MS/HRMS fragmentation patterns. Furthermore, full-scan high-resolution data were retrospectively interrogated versus a list of more than 100 compounds and revealed additional hits and temporal profiles in good correlation with reported drug use.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, Wageningen University , Dreijenplein 8, 6703 HB Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Wilco F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Duvivier
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, Wageningen University , Dreijenplein 8, 6703 HB Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marc R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: van Putten
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, Wageningen University , Dreijenplein 8, 6703 HB Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Teris A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: van Beek
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, Wageningen University , Dreijenplein 8, 6703 HB Wageningen, The Netherlands.|RIKILT Wageningen UR , Post Office Box 230, 6700 AE Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Michel W F
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Nielen
mesh_terms: D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000295:instrumentation; D003042:Cocaine / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000295:instrumentation; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D003042:Cocaine