Replacing Immunoassays for Mephedrone, Ketamines and Six Amphetamine-Type Stimulants with Flow Injection Analysis Tandem Mass Spectrometry

A screening procedure was developed for the simultaneous detection of mephedrone, six amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS), ketamine and its two metabolites with electrospray ionization flow injection analysis tandem mass spectrometry (FIA-MS-MS). Urine samples were fortified with deuterated analogues as internal standards, extracted with ethyl acetate and analyzed with FIA-MS-MS. The mass analyzer was operated in multiple reaction monitoring mode. Two product ions were monitored for each drug and internal standards. For each analyte, the limit of detection was less than 4 µg/L, within-day and between-day precisions (percent coefficient of variation) at three different concentrations were less than 7.3% and bias was between -17.3 and 11.8%. Total analysis time with FIA-MS-MS is 1.8 min per sample. A group of 215 urine samples were screened with immunoassay for ATS and analyzed with FIA-MS-MS and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for ketamines and ATS. The analysis of ATS by immunoassay and GC-MS was 96.7% concordant. The analysis of three ketamines and seven ATS by FIA-MS-MS and GC-MS was 97.2% concordant. The FIA-MS-MS procedure is efficient, accurate, flexible and capable of detecting analytes of different chemical groups. It can replace immunoassays for the screening of new designer drugs when commercial immunoassays are unavailable.