Chromatographia 2009, 70, November (No. 9/10)

High-Throughput Screening of Drugs of Abuse in Urine by Supported Liquid–Liquid Extraction and UHPLC
Coupled to Tandem MS

Aubert Maquille1,2, Davy Guillarme1, Serge Rudaz1, Jean-Luc Veuthey1,&
1 School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva, University of Lausanne, Boulevard d’Yvoy 20,
1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland;E-Mail: jean-luc.veuthey@unige.ch
2 Present Address: Laboratory of Chemical and Physico-Chemical Analysis of Drugs (CHAM), Louvain
Drug Research Institute, Universite´ Catholique de Louvain, Avenue E. Mounier, 72, bte 72.30, 1200 Brussels,
Belgium

Abstract
A qualitative method, involving supported liquid–liquid extraction (SLE) and ultra high
pressure liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS–MS),
was developed for the rapid tentative identification of various drugs of abuse in urine. In this
study, 28 drugs and metabolites were covered by the screening procedure. Before analysis,
urine samples were extracted by SLE and good extraction recoveries were obtained for most
investigated compounds. The UHPLC strategy was then selected for the rapid separation of
amphetamines, cocaine, opiates and related compounds in urine. Using columns packed
with sub-2 lm particles, analysis time was reduced down to 2 min, while maintaining
acceptable performance. Finally, the detection was by tandem MS operating in the single
reaction monitoring (SRM) mode. The most intense transition was selected for the different
drugs and SRM dwell times set at 5 ms, to maintain sufficient data points across the narrow
UHPLC peaks. The tentative identification of the drugs of interest, including amphetamines,
opiates and cocaine, was based on both, retention times and mass spectrometry information.
With the proposed method, limits of detection were estimated at about 1 ng mL-1 and the
applicability was assessed by successfully analyzing several samples of drug abusers. Finally,
this study demonstrates the potential of UHPLC coupled to tandem MS for the rapid screening
of drugs of abuse in urine.