This application note from UCT details a suggested procedure for the simultaneous determination of prescription and designer benzodiazepines in urine by SPE and LC-MS/MS.
Apart from their intended use as prescription drugs for the treatment of anxiety, insomnia, muscle spasms, alcohol withdrawal and seizure-prevention, benzodiazepines or "Benzos" are also recurrently utilized as illegal recreational drugs. Similar to other commonly abused compounds, such as cannabinoids or amphetamines, “legal” alternatives have been developed for Benzos as well in an attempt to bypass the controlled substances act. These new designer drugs are structural or functional analogs of the controlled substance designed to not only mimic the pharmacological effects of the original drug, but also avoid illegal classification and/or detection in a standard drug test.
Keeping up with the ever changing designer drug market has proven to be a real challenge for laboratories across the country. Given that these compounds are derived from “template structures”, it will prove valuable for labs to have a method that can not only target current metabolites of interest, but also the latest ones being formulated.
This application note provides an effective method for the simultaneous determination of prescription and designer benzodiazepines in urine by SPE and LC-MS/MS.