LC-HRMS suspect screening to show spatial patterns of New Psychoactive Substances use in Australia

Abstract

New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) are an ever-changing class of compounds designed to imitate the effects of current recreational drugs. Such a diverse market is difficult to assess by traditional means, while collected information can become obsolete before it is available. Wastewater-based epidemiology is one technique which can capture information on where and when NPS appear at the community level. The aim of this study was to identify NPS in wastewater samples using a suspect screening approach. Weekend samples were collected from 50 wastewater treatment plants from Australian capital cities and regional areas across all eight States and Territories and screened against a database containing almost 200 NPS. A total of 22 different NPS were found across all regional and metropolitan wastewater treatment plants. Results showed that the most detected compounds were of the cathinone class, with both Alpha-PVP and methcathinone found in every region. In addition, five different synthetic cannabinoids were detected, at least once in half of the regions analysed. Herein, we report the first comprehensive nationwide analysis of NPS and show the utility of liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry screening for delivering spatial information of the NPS being consumed in communities.

Rapid duplexed detection of illicit drugs in wastewater using gold nanoparticle conjugated aptamer sensors

“…WBE is conducted by collecting wastewater samples and analysing the concentration of targets in wastewater, and thereby can be used to monitor the community-wide drug consumption taking into account population served, stability of drug residues, excretion rates, and wastewater volumes (Cyranoski, 2018;Du et al, 2017;Du et al, 2018;van Nuijs et al, 2011;Zuccato et al, 2005). Compared to the conventional population survey method, WBE holds several advantages such as more objective and much less time-consuming (Du et al, 2018;Ettore et al, 2008), and thus this strategy has been widely used for the monitoring of illicit drugs in many countries (Du et al, 2017;EMCDDA, 2016;Thomas et al, 2012), including America (Foppe et al, 2018), Australia (Bade et al, 2019) and many European countries (Castrignanò et al, 2018;EMCDDA, 2016). To get the concentration of wastewater, the widely employed analytical instrument is mass spectrometry (MS) coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), which is robust, highly sensitive and selective (Du et al, 2015;Gao et al, 2017).…”

Simultaneous determination of 24 opioids, stimulants and new psychoactive substances in wastewater

“…Alongside these illicit drugs, eight new psychoactive substances (NPS) were also included (3-trifluoromethylphenylpiperazine (TFMPP), 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), alpha PVP, ethylone, mephedrone, methcathinone, methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV), methylone and para-methoxyamphetamine (PMA)). NPS are of global concern, with mephedrone one of the most common synthetic cathinones available globally [4], while ethylone, methylone, MDPV and alpha PVP have previously been found in wastewater samples [[5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10]].…”

The complexities associated with new psychoactive substances in influent wastewater: The case of 4‐ethylmethcathinone

“…Three separate liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry methods were utilized in this study: two UPLC-QTOF-MS methods employing data independent acquisition (DIA) and data dependent acquisition modes (DDA) 16,17 and one UPLC-QqQ-MS method. 18 3 | RESULTS AND DISCUSSION…”

“…A previously published protocol was followed for processing the compound. 16 Each sample was processed against a database of almost 200 NPS, including more than 120 reference standards (Supporting Information, Table S1) precursor ions has been reported, particularly in substituted cathinones. 19,20 With these findings, non-cathinone isomers such as DEET and phendimetrazine were excluded from further investigation as the "unknown" compound.…”

“…Ion ratios and MRM transitions are shown in the supporting information, Figure S4. The 4-EMC standard and the extract were also analysed in the LC-QTOF-MS system 16 to ensure the fragmentation and accurate masses matched (Figure 4). The proposed fragmentation pathway of 4-EMC is shown in Figure S5, based on the work by Pozo et al and Liu et al 31,32 .…”