title: Determination of illicit drugs in aqueous environmental samples by online solid-phase extraction coupled to liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.
abstract: In this study, a fully automated analytical method, based on online solid phase extraction coupled to liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (online SPE-LC-MS/MS), has been developed and optimized for the quantification of 10 illicit drugs and metabolites in environmentally aqueous samples collected from China. The particular attention was devoted to minimize the matrix effects through a washing step, which washed out the interferences effectively and helped to reduce the matrix effect significantly. The key advantages of the method are high sensitivity, selectivity and reliability of results, smaller sample manipulation, full automation, and fairly high throughput. The whole procedure was then successfully applied in the analysis of various surface water and wastewater effluents samples. Pseudoephedrine have been detected at trace levels (several tens ng L(-1) or less), while MDA, MDMA, benzoylecgonine and methadone were below the LOQ in all samples. Caffeine, cotinine and paraxanthine, which may be derived from medicines and foods, were detected with the highest frequencies and concentrations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, PR China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, PR China.
authors.forename: Lushi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lian
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, PR China. Electronic address: pangweihai@tongji.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Weihai
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Pang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, PR China.
authors.forename: Daqiang
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Agilent Technology, Inc., 1350 North Sichuan Road, Shanghai, 200080, PR China.
authors.forename: Shen-An
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science & Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, PR China. Electronic address: wsong@fudan.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Weihua
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Song
mesh_terms: D002110:Caffeine / Q000032:analysis; D002681:China; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods; D003367:Cotinine / Q000032:analysis; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000032:analysis*; D054199:Pseudoephedrine / Q000032:analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry; D052616:Solid Phase Extraction / Q000379:methods; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods; D013806:Theophylline / Q000032:analysis; D062065:Wastewater / Q000032:analysis; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D002110:Caffeine; D003367:Cotinine; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D054199:Pseudoephedrine; D013806:Theophylline; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; C021183:1,7-dimethylxanthine
keywords: Illicit drugs; LC-MS/MS; Matrix effects; Online SPE