Mass spectrometry in Forensic Toxicology

New possibilities for forensic toxicology analyses are offered by thedevelopment of mass spectrometry. The identification and quantification of drugs of abuse are the most concerning issues in the forensic science. The drug addiction and abuse are the main causes of high criminal activities. The psychotropic substances, natural drugs, hallucinogens are the “new psychoactive substances,” which are designed from skeletons of some natural drugs previously known. These are the main focus of the development of new analytical methodologies, where key role played by mass spectrometry. Screening is done by coupling of different chromatography techniques, such as liquid and gas chromatography to mass spectrometry for the toxicological analysis to identify and quantify metabolites from unknown drugs. In cases where an increment in the signal/noise ratio is necessary, and the structure of the compound is known additional selectivity can be provided using tandem mass spectrometry in ion products or selected reaction monitoring. This is most widely used because of its increase in the specificity, selectivity, and detectability; however, the analyses become too time-consuming when a previous chromatographic separation and sample preparation are required.

Mass spectrometry is the most prominent technique for the toxicological forensic analysis. Mass Spectrometry coupled with chromatography are the preferred techniques to identify new drugs or metabolites through screening analysis, providing excellent results in limit of detection, precision, accuracy, and sensitivity, although it may be a time-consuming process. The Direct analytical techniques with Mass Spectrometry (with less sample) are more likely to be used in target analysis and in qualitative analysis. The sample complexity complicates the identification among compounds with similar fragmentation patterns, along with the problems caused by ionization chemical suppression. The recent developments in Mass Spectrometry are concerned with the necessity of creating new software in order to help improve simplicity and robustness in the identification of drugs. There is a growing necessity to develop more innovative methodologies to reduce time consumption in the analyses, enhance sensitivity, and finally move forward towards greener chemistry.