A rapid quantitative method for the analysis of synthetic cannabinoids by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

Synthetic cannabinoids represent an emerging drug problem in the USA, as these compounds are constantly being modified and rapidly sold as soon as they become available. Laboratories around the world are constantly improving the analytical methods to detect and identify these newly available designer drugs. This study used a simple approach to detect and quantify a variety of synthetic cannabinoids (14 parent compounds and 15 metabolites including series XLR, AM, JWH, UR, RCS, PB, HU and AB-FUBINACA) using LC-MS-MS. Drug-free urine samples spiked with various synthetic cannabinoids and their metabolites were separated on a C18-Hypersil Gold column using an Agilent 1290 ultra-high performance liquid chromatography and detected by an AB Sciex API 4000 tandem mass spectrometer. Studies were carried out to determine limit of detection, limit of quantitation, upper limit of linearity, ion suppression, interference, precision and accuracy to validate the method. Urine samples from patients and known users were hydrolyzed with β-glucuronidase prior to the analysis by LC-MS-MS, and the data are presented. The method described here is rapid, highly sensitive and specific for the identification of a variety of synthetic cannabinoids.