title: The use of HPLC-Q-TOF-MS for comprehensive screening of drugs and psychoactive substances in hair samples and several "legal highs" products.
abstract: Non-targeted screening of drugs present in herbal products, known as "legal high" drugs and in hair as a biological matrix commonly used in toxicological investigations was accomplished with the use of high pressure liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (HPLC-Q-TOF-MS). In total, 25 and 14 therapeutical drugs and psychoactive substances/metabolites were detected in investigated hair samples and herbal products, respectively. We demonstrate that the HPLC-Q-TOF methodology seems to be a powerful tool in the qualitative analysis applied in identification of these designer drugs, thus enabling a laboratory to stay-up-to-date with the drugs that are being sold as legal high products on black market.
authors.affiliation: Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Gdańsk University of Technology, Gdańsk, Poland.
authors.forename: Justyna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aszyk
authors.affiliation: Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Gdańsk University of Technology, Gdańsk, Poland.
authors.forename: Agata
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kot-Wasik
keywords: Drug research; Extraction; Mass spectroscopy; Quadrupole time-of-flight mass analyzer