A Complete Workflow for the Determination of Drugs that Conforms to the Society of Hair Testing (SoHT) Guidelines

Importance of the Topic

Hair analysis is increasingly valued in forensic toxicology for its ability to detect a wide range of drugs over an extended detection window It offers non invasive sampling and high resistance to adulteration

Objectives and Study Overview

The aim was to develop a single streamlined workflow that meets guidelines of the Society of Hair Testing and the European Workplace Drug Testing Society This method covers opiates amphetamines cocaine ketamine buprenorphine benzodiazepines THC and metabolites from a single hair specimen

Methodology

Hair samples are washed with organic solvents and incubated with extraction buffer at high temperature Analytes are recovered by solid phase extraction using OASIS PRiME MCX 96 well plates Two separate UPLC MS MS methods on an ACQUITY UPLC I Class System and a Xevo TQ S micro detector enable measurement of basic drugs and cannabinoids in under ten minutes total per sample

Used Instrumentation

• OASIS PRiME MCX 30 mg 96 well plate for solid phase extraction
• ACQUITY UPLC I Class System with BEH C18 column and flow through needle
• Xevo TQ S micro triple quadrupole mass spectrometer
• Comedical M3 extraction reagent
• MassLynx MS software with TargetLynx quantification

Key Results and Discussion

The workflow achieved separation and quantification of 29 basic drugs at recommended confirmation cut off levels with high sensitivity Buprenorphine and norbuprenorphine were detected at low nanogram per milligram levels Calibration was linear from 0.005 to 2 ng per mg for buprenorphine Cannabinoids including THC cannabidiol and cannabinol were quantified at 0.05 ng per mg A separate method measured the metabolite carboxy THC for confirmation

Advantages and Practical Applications

• Single sample preparation protocol for diverse drug classes
• Low sample requirements enabling analysis from small hair amounts
• Rapid analysis time under ten minutes per sample supporting high throughput
• Quantification below society recommended cut off values ensuring reliable confirmation

Future Trends and Potential Applications

Integration with automated sample preparation and expanded panels for new psychoactive substances are anticipated High resolution mass spectrometry may be incorporated for untargeted screening Method miniaturization and multiplexing will further enhance efficiency Applications may extend into clinical and workplace monitoring contexts

Conclusion

This unified workflow provides a rapid accurate and robust approach to quantify a broad panel of drugs in hair It aligns with Society of Hair Testing and European Workplace Drug Testing Society guidelines while delivering high sensitivity and throughput from a single specimen

References

1. Cooper GAA Kronstrand R Kintz P Society of Hair Testing Guidelines for Drug Testing in Hair Forensic Science International 2012 218 20 24
2. European Workplace Drug Testing Society Guidelines accessed July 2020
3. Gottardi M et al Using UPLC MS MS for the Determination of carboxy THC in Hair Waters Tech Brief 720006363EN 2018
4. Joya X et al Fetal Exposure to Ethanol Relationship Between Ethyl Glucuronide in Maternal Hair and Neonatal Meconium Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine 2015 54 3 427 435