Direct screening of urine for MDMA and MDA by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

J Anal Toxicol. 2003 Jan-Feb;27(1):15-9. doi: 10.1093/jat/27.1.15.

Abstract

There is a limit in the number of substances detected by commercially available reagents. It is therefore important to have other, complementary techniques. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) may offer one possibility. An LC-MS-MS procedure based on the detection of positive ions after atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) was developed for direct measurement of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine in urine. It was compared with Online Amphetamines. The LC-MS-MS methodology showed improved sensitivity (1 00-ng/mL cutoff and specificity with a coefficient of variation of 10%. It was compared to the immunochemical analysis using 1000 clinical patient urine samples. The positive samples were confirmed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The LC-MS-MS method detected almost four times as many samples positive for MDMA compared to the immunochemical method, with no false positives and one false negative. Our study suggests that LC-MS-MS offers an alternative to immunochemical methods in drug of abuse screening.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • 3,4-Methylenedioxyamphetamine / urine*
  • Chromatography, Liquid
  • Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
  • Humans
  • Immunochemistry
  • N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine / urine*
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization
  • Substance Abuse Detection / methods*

Substances

  • 3,4-Methylenedioxyamphetamine
  • N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine