Application of direct-infusion ESI-MS/MS for toxicological screening.

Abstract

Direct-infusion ESI-MS/MS is a powerful approach for the identification of substances in complex mixtures. The aim of this work was to investigate its applicability to the toxicological screening of blood samples. A simple protein precipitation was used, followed by a 15 min infusion of the extract in the mass spectrometer. The application of the procedure to commercial quality controls and authentic post-mortem blood samples demonstrated that the direct-infusion ESI-MS/MS approach enables the simultaneous identification of substances that require different chromatographic conditions. However, poor sensitivity was observed for benzodiazepine, amphetamines and opiate compounds. Considering the facile implementation and positive performance of direct-infusion ESI-MS/MS, this approach may to be a valuable complementary technique for systematic toxicological analysis procedures.