Direct determination of anabolic steroids in human urine by on-line solid-phase extraction/liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry.

A fully automated method is presented for the determination of anabolic steroids in human urine. On line solid-phase extraction with automatic cartridge exchange is used for sample clean-up followed by an high-performance liquid chromatographic isocratic separation. A narrow-bore 5 microns reversed-phase column (250 x 2.1 mm i.d.) at a flow rate of 0.2 ml min-1 is connected to a particle beam interface linked to a single-quadrupole mass spectrometer. No derivatization is needed and normal electron impact mass spectra are obtained for a series of up to 28 steroids and metabolites. Urine samples collected following the ingestion of therapeutic doses of some of the steroids were analysed and the detection and confirmation of excreted compounds accomplished. A dramatic reduction in human intervention and overall analysis time was achieved compared with other common approaches.