High Throughput Analysis of Performance Enhancing Drugs by Automated Solid-Phase Extraction and Liquid Chromatography Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

摘要

The use of performance enhancing drugs, particularly anabolic steroids and beta2-agonists, are mostly done to improve athletic performance. Their use is considered doping and banned by all major sporting bodies. Furthermore, beta2-agonists such as clenbuterol and other sympathometics, were added to the list of prohibited substances in 1992 by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Commonly used assays are based on the analysis of prohibited compounds and their metabolites using GCMS or LCMS/MS. However, by working in MS/MS mode the system is effectively blind to all other compounds than what the current MS/MS method is designed for. This limitation prohibits the simultaneous analysis of a large number of unknowns. Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (TOFMS) offers the unique capability of high sensitivity detection while analyzing over the full analytical mass range, making it an ideal tool for non-target screening.