Confirmation testing of amphetamines and designer drugs in human urine by capillary electrophoresis-ion trap mass spectrometry

Monitoring of amphetamines and designer drugs in human urine is a timely topic in clinical toxicology, surveillance of drug substitution, forensic science, drug testing at the workplace, and doping control. Confirmation testing of urinary amphetamine, methamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, Ecstasy) and 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) by capillary electrophoresis (CE) combined with atmospheric pressure electrospray ionization and ion trap mass spectrometry (MS) is described. Using an aqueous pH 4.6 buffer composed of ammonium acetate/acetic acid, CE-MS and CE-MS2 provided data that permitted the unambiguous confirmation of these drugs in external quality control urines. Furthermore, other drugs of abuse present in alkaline urinary extracts, including methadone and morphine, could also be monitored. The data presented illustrate that the sensitivity achieved with the benchtop MS is comparable to that observed by CE with UV absorption detection. CE-MS2 is further shown to be capable of identifying comigrating compounds, including the comigration of amphetamine with nicotine.