Screening of drugs of abuse and toxic compounds in human whole blood using online solid-phase extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography with time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

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A novel method for the screening of 151 drugs of abuse and toxic compounds in human whole blood has been developed and validated by online solid-phase extraction with liquid chromatography coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Analytes were extracted and separated by using a fully automated online solid-phase extraction liquid chromatography system with total chromatographic run time of 26 min. Time-of-flight mass spectrometry screening of 151 drugs of abuse and toxic compounds was performed in a full-scan (m/z 50-800) mode using an MS(E) acquisition of molecular ions and fragment ions data at two collision energies (one was 6 eV and another one was in the range of 5-45 eV). The compounds were identified based on retention times and exact mass of molecular ions and fragment ions. The limit of detection ranged from 1 to 100 ng/mL and the recovery of the method ranged from 6.3 to 163.5%. This method is proved to be a valuable screening method allowing fast and specific identification of drugs in human whole blood.