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High-throughput and Comprehensive Drug Surveillance Using Multisegment Injection-Capillary Electrophoresis-Mass Spectrometry
Published on: April 23, 2019
Application of direct-infusion ESI-MS/MS for toxicological screening
François Versace1, Julien Déglon, Patrice Mangin
1Unit of Toxicology, University Center of Legal Medicine, Geneva & Lausanne, Switzerland.
Background:
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.
Results:
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.
Conclusion:
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.
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