Chemical derivatization for forensic drug analysis by GC- and LC-MS

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Chromatography
• Mass Spectrometry

Background:

• Chemical derivatization (CD) is widely used to improve gas chromatography (GC) and GC-mass spectrometry (MS) drug analysis.
• Its application in liquid chromatography (LC) and LC-MS is less established but shows significant potential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review chemical derivatization reagents, reaction types, and applications.
• To emphasize the use of CD in GC-MS and LC-MS for analyzing drugs of abuse.

Main Methods:

• Discussion of common CD reactions: silylation, acylation, and alkylation.
• Exploration of CD reagents developed for GC-MS and LC-MS applications.
• Analysis of CD's role in enhancing analyte stability, extraction, separation, and detection.

Main Results:

• CD improves the analysis of highly polar and nonvolatile analytes in both GC-MS and LC-MS.
• Many reagents effective for GC-MS are also suitable for LC-MS.
• Specific CD reagents enhance LC-MS ionization and facilitate MS/MS fragmentation for sensitive detection.

Conclusions:

• Chemical derivatization is a valuable tool for optimizing drug analysis using GC-MS and LC-MS.
• CD is particularly beneficial for analyzing challenging polar analytes and drugs of abuse.
• Further development of CD strategies can significantly advance LC-MS capabilities.