Abstract Rapid detection of trace level amphetaminic drug compounds in urine is essential to monitor consumption of these abuse drugs by athletes. In this work, the amphetaminic drug compounds were spiked in human urine and analyzed using headspace – dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) ionization-mass spectrometry method. In the headspace method, the urine spiked drug compound was treated with alkali solution, thus the free base amphetaminic molecules were released into the gas phase. The gaseous molecules were then ionized by the DBD ion source placed in front of the mass spectrometer inlet under ambient condition. This method provided comparable sensitivity with the solid-phase microextraction (SPME) in analysis of the amphetaminic compounds where no derivatization or adduct formation was required. The present method also facilitated the sensitivity enhancement with about one order of magnitude in urine compared to standard solution. Carbonate alkali solution showed the highest sensitivity for detection of the drug compounds in urine and the sensitivity was enhanced by using NH 3 . The limits of detection (LODs) of the various amphetaminic molecules were found to be in the range of 0.10–0.80 ng/mL for standard solutions while those for urine were in the range of 0.04–0.40 ng/mL. The analytical figures of merit of this method were evaluated under ambient condition using suitable internal standard. Results suggested the suitability of this method for analytical routine work in detection of amine-based drugs in doping test and/or in forensic laboratories. A mechanism of enhanced sensitivity by the ammoniated carbonate alkali solution in urine is also discussed.

中文翻译：

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顶空-介质阻挡放电电离-质谱法分析尿液中的苯丙胺类药物化合物

摘要 尿液中痕量苯丙胺类药物化合物的快速检测对于监测运动员对这些滥用药物的消耗至关重要。在这项工作中，将苯丙胺类药物化合物添加到人尿中，并使用顶空 - 介质阻挡放电 (DBD) 电离 - 质谱法进行分析。在顶空法中，尿液加标的药物化合物用碱溶液处理，从而将游离碱苯丙胺分子释放到气相中。然后在环境条件下，气体分子被放置在质谱仪入口前面的 DBD 离子源电离。该方法在分析苯丙胺类化合物时提供了与固相微萃取 (SPME) 相当的灵敏度，其中不需要衍生化或加合物形成。与标准溶液相比，本方法还促进了尿液中大约一个数量级的灵敏度提高。碳酸碱溶液对尿液中药物化合物的检测灵敏度最高，使用NH 3 可提高灵敏度。发现标准溶液中各种苯丙胺分子的检测限 (LOD) 在 0.10-0.80 ng/mL 范围内，而尿液的检测限在 0.04-0.40 ng/mL 范围内。使用合适的内标在环境条件下评估该方法的分析品质因数。结果表明，该方法适用于兴奋剂检测和/或法医实验室中检测胺类药物的分析常规工作。