ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Simultaneous determination of 12 illicit drugs in hair sample by the nano-titania-modified covalent organic frameworks (NTM-COFs) on-line pass-through cleanup followed by UPLC-MS/MS

Jia-Ping Chen, Yi Zhou, Yun Zhang, and Mei-Lan Chen

The Second Affiliated Hospital Zhejiang University School of Medical, Hangzhou, China

E-mail: yunz2012@163.com

Received: 11 January 2023  Accepted: 28 September 2023

Abstract:

An effective analytical method using NTM-COFs on-line pass-through cleanup method and ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) to simultaneously quantify 12 illicit drugs (norketamine, ketamine, codeine, cocaine, methamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, amphetamine, benzoylecgonine, 6-acetylmorphine, morphine and methadone) in hair sample was developed and validated. The hair sample was extracted with 0.3% formic acid-acetonitrile (v/v) and passed through the nano-titania-modified covalent organic frameworks (NTM-COFs) pre-column to reduce the matrix effect caused by hair specimen. Under the optimal conditions, satisfactory extraction efficiency was obtained for 12 illicit drugs with recoveries between 84.6% and 108.8%. The proposed method was linear for each analyte with correlation coefficients over 0.9926. The limits of detection and limits of quantification for 12 illicit drugs were in the range of 0.012–0.558 ng/g and 0.036–1.860 ng/g, respectively. Acceptable precision and accuracy were also achieved with relative standard deviations values below 9.92% and relative error values below 15.4%. The analytical method was successfully applied to real hair samples from suspected drug abusers, which was proved to be reliable and robust for drug screening in forensic toxicology.

Keywords: NTM-COFs on-line pass-through cleanup method; Cryogenic grinding; UPLC-MS/MS; Illicit drugs; Hair sample

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-023-03124-4

Chemical Papers 78 (2) 823–831 (2024)