Abstract
The use of psychoactive “designer drugs” has increased rapidly due to their varying and sometimes ambiguous legal status and their ready access via the Internet and at local “headshops.” A quick screening method for samples containing these substances, using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array UV and mass spectrometric detection (UHPLC-PDA/UV–MS), is presented. The method enables the screening of a variety of samples containing emerging/reemerging drugs, including β-keto phenethylamines (cathinone derivatives), synthetic cannabinoids/cannabimimetics, and phenethylamine derivatives. The use of dual detectors not only provides molecular weight information but also differentiates the drugs by their categories and in some cases even their sub-categories. Moreover, ring positional isomers of cathinone and phenethylamine derivatives can be easily differentiated by their retention times and UV spectra.
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