Direct injection ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for the high-throughput determination of 11 illicit drugs and metabolites in wastewater

The measurement of illicit drugs in wastewater is increasingly being adopted as a method for objective monitoring of population-level illicit drug use. This work describes the first small-volume direct-injection ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method for the si-multaneous determination of 11 illicit drugs and metabolites in wastewater. The method required an injection volume of only 30 mu L of wastewater sample, the limits of detection (LOD) ranged from 0.4 ng/L to 2 ng/L and the lower limits of quantitation (LLOQ) ranged from 1 ng/L to 5 ng/L. Application of the method to real wastewater samples collected from wastewater treatment plants revealed morphine in all samples, together with other illicit drugs (methamphetamine, codeine, ketamine, and nor-ketamine) in some samples. Small-volume direct injection showed great potential as an efficient method for the high-throughput determination of illicit drugs in wastewater.(c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The measurement of illicit drugs in wastewater is increasingly adopted as a method for objective monitoring of population-level illicit drug use. This study describes a small-volume direct-injection ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method for simultaneous determination of 11 illicit drugs and metabolites in wastewater, with high sensitivity and low limits of quantitation.