| In current forensic testing, a new pattern is emerging where the drugs that are submitted to crime labs for analysis are no longer restricted to well-characterized substances such as cocaine, heroin and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). The appearance of new psychoactive substances (NPS) in forensic laboratories, including synthetic alternatives to scheduled substances and plant-based psychotropics, has highlighted issues that traditional analytical methods such as gas chromatography- and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry impose in the characterization of these samples. These can include lengthy extractions, derivatization steps, pH adjustments and/or a host of other procedures. Since the creation of legislation to address the use of these products relies on the presence of laboratory methods that can identify them, the development of suitable standard operating protocols (SOPs) for their detection is imperative.;The unique and reliable mass spectral fingerprint profiles acquired using the ambient ionization technique direct analysis in real time-high resolution mass spectrometry (DART-HRMS), can be used to identify plants of abuse and distinguish one psychoactive species from another. The high-throughput capabilities of DART ionization, coupled with the high resolution mass spectral data derived from time-of-flight mass spectrometric analysis, bypass challenges presented by more traditional methods. Psychoactive plant material can be analyzed in its native form without extraction, sample derivatization, filtration, or pH adjustment steps. The mass spectra-derived chemical fingerprints exhibit high intraspecies similarities and unique interspecies differences. Moreover, psychoactive compounds and species biomarkers can be easily identified through accurate mass determinations. Confirmation of the presence of these constituents within the matrix of the botanical material is accomplished through the use of in-source collision-induced dissociation (CID) and provides further diagnostic information, including the revelation of additives or adulterants in some cases. Finally, the application of multivariate statistical analysis methods to the large but rapidly generated datasets is demonstrated to provide species discrimination between multiple plant-based drugs of abuse. The use of DART-HRMS in conjunction with statistical analysis tools provides a means to identify and characterize mind-altering plant materials, and the approach circumvents many of the challenges presented by conventional methodologies. |
