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Combined use of ESI–QqTOF-MS and ESI–QqTOF-MS/MS with mass-spectral library search for qualitative analysis of drugs

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Abstract

The potential of the combined use of ESI–QqTOF-MS and ESI–QqTOF-MS/MS with mass-spectral library search for the identification of therapeutic and illicit drugs has been evaluated. Reserpine was used for standardizing experimental conditions and for characterization of the performance of the applied mass spectrometric system. Experiments revealed that because of the mass accuracy, the stability of calibration, and the reproducibility of fragmentation, the QqTOF mass spectrometer is an appropriate platform for establishment of a tandem-mass-spectral library. Three-hundred and nineteen substances were used as reference samples to build the spectral library. For each reference compound, product-ion spectra were acquired at ten different collision-energy values between 5 eV and 50 eV. For identification of unknown compounds, a library search algorithm was developed. The closeness of matching between a measured product-ion spectrum and a spectrum stored in the library was characterized by a value called “match probability”, which took into account the number of matched fragment ions, the number of fragment ions observed in the two spectra, and the sum of the intensity differences calculated for matching fragments. A large value for the match probability indicated a close match between the measured and the reference spectrum. A unique feature of the library search algorithm—an implemented spectral purification option—enables characterization of multi-contributor fragment-ion spectra. With the aid of this software feature, substances comprising only 1.0% of the total amount of binary mixtures were unequivocally assigned, in addition to the isobaric main contributors. The spectral library was successfully applied to the characterization of 39 forensic casework samples.

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Acknowledgment

The authors wish to thank Applied Biosystems for the generous provision of the mass spectrometer and the associated equipment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Legal Medicine, Innsbruck Medical University, Muellerstrasse 44, 6020, Innsbruck, Austria

    Marion Pavlic, Kathrin Libiseller & Herbert Oberacher

Authors
  1. Marion Pavlic
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  2. Kathrin Libiseller
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  3. Herbert Oberacher
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Herbert Oberacher.

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Pavlic, M., Libiseller, K. & Oberacher, H. Combined use of ESI–QqTOF-MS and ESI–QqTOF-MS/MS with mass-spectral library search for qualitative analysis of drugs. Anal Bioanal Chem 386, 69–82 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-006-0634-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-006-0634-8

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