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Development and practical application of a library of CID accurate mass spectra of more than 2,500 toxic compounds for systematic toxicological analysis by LC–QTOF-MS with data-dependent acquisition

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Abstract

A library of collision-induced dissociation (CID) accurate mass spectra has been developed for efficient use of liquid chromatography in combination with hybrid quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC–QTOF-MS) as a tool in systematic toxicological analysis. The mass spectra (Δm < 3 ppm) of more than 2,500 illegal and therapeutic drugs, pesticides, alkaloids, other toxic chemicals and metabolites were measured, by use of an Agilent 6530 instrument, by flow-injection of 1 ng of the pure substances in aqueous ammonium formate–formic acid–methanol, with positive and negative electrospray-ionization (ESI), selection of the protonated or deprotonated molecules [M+H]+ or [M−H]− by the quadrupole, and collision induced dissociation (CID) with nitrogen as collision gas at CID energies of 10, 20, and 40 eV. The fragment mass spectra were controlled for structural plausibility, corrected by recalculation to the theoretical fragment masses and added to a database of accurate mass data and molecular formulas of more than 7,500 toxicologically relevant substances to form the “database and library of toxic compounds”. For practical evaluation, blood and urine samples were spiked with a mixture of 33 drugs at seven concentrations between 0.5 and 500 ng mL−1, prepared by dichloromethane extraction or protein precipitation, and analyzed by LC–QTOF-MS in data-dependent acquisition mode. Unambiguous identification by library search was possible for typical basic drugs down to 0.5–2 ng mL−1 and for benzodiazepines down to 2–20 ng mL−1. The efficiency of the method was also demonstrated by re-analysis of venous blood samples from 50 death cases and comparison with previous results. In conclusion, LC–QTOF-MS in data-dependent acquisition mode combined with an accurate mass database and CID spectra library seemed to be one of the most efficient tools for systematic toxicological analysis.

LC-QTOF-MS file measured in auto-MS-MS mode from a blood sample of a poisoning case after application of the tool “File Compounds”

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Acknowledgement

The authors thank Agilent Technologies, Inc. (Santa Clara, California, USA) for generous technical support of these investigations and in particular Dr Peter Stone and Dr Frank Kuhlmann for helpful cooperation and discussions. They are also grateful to Mrs Jana Küchler, Mr Bruno Feyerabend, Mrs Karolin Heinze, Mr Henrik Petszulat, Mrs Franziska Wiechert, and Mrs Sina Wuttig for their thorough and efficient experimental assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Legal Medicine, University Hospital Charité, Turmstraße 21, Building N, 10559, Berlin, Germany

    Sebastian Broecker, Sieglinde Herre & Fritz Pragst

  2. Agilent Technologies, Hewlett-Packard-Straße 8, 76337, Waldbronn, Germany

    Bernhard Wüst

  3. Agilent Technologies, Inc., 2850 Centerville Road, BL3-2 3L11, Wilmington, DE, 19808-1610, USA

    Jerry Zweigenbaum

Authors
  1. Sebastian Broecker
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  2. Sieglinde Herre
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  3. Bernhard Wüst
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  4. Jerry Zweigenbaum
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  5. Fritz Pragst
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Correspondence to Fritz Pragst.

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Published in the special issue Forensic Toxicology with Guest Editors Frank T. Peters, Hans H. Maurer, and Frank Musshoff.

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Broecker, S., Herre, S., Wüst, B. et al. Development and practical application of a library of CID accurate mass spectra of more than 2,500 toxic compounds for systematic toxicological analysis by LC–QTOF-MS with data-dependent acquisition. Anal Bioanal Chem 400, 101–117 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-010-4450-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-010-4450-9

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