Simultaneous determination of 24 opioids, stimulants and new psychoactive substances in wastewater
Richard Bade,
Maulik Ghetia,
Lynn Nguyen,
Benjamin J. Tscharke,
Jason M. White,
Cobus Gerber
Affiliations
Richard Bade
School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000, Australia
Maulik Ghetia
School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000, Australia
Lynn Nguyen
School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000, Australia
Benjamin J. Tscharke
School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000, Australia; Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Science (QAEHS), University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street Woolloongabba, Queensland, 4102, Australia
Jason M. White
School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000, Australia
Cobus Gerber
School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000, Australia; Corresponding author.
Wastewater-based epidemiology has become a reputable means to estimate drug consumption within a community. However, these methods typically focus solely on illicit drugs or a single chemical family, with multi-class methods out of favour due to the increased analytical challenges. • A sensitive liquid chromatography – mass spectrometry method was developed for the simultaneous determination of 24 opioids, stimulants and new psychoactive substances in influent wastewater. • Filtered wastewater samples, preserved with sodium metabisulfite, were pretreated and 1000 times concentrated using off-line solid phase extraction. • The method was optimised and fully validated for all compounds, with limits of quantification between 0.2 and 300 ng/L. Method name: A quantitative method for the analysis of opioids, Stimulants and new psychoactive substances in wastewater, Keywords: Triple quadrupole, Matrix effects, Synthetic cathinones, Mass spectrometry, Illicit drugs
