How do you know what you can’t see? This is the challenge many a lab faces as they relentlessly test for novel psychoactive substances (NPS) as unknown samples with an ever-changing ingredient list make discovery difficult work at best. There are many reasons for the complexities of which you can discover in this application note, “Accurate Mass Screening Workflows for the Analysis of Novel Psychoactive Substances.”  However, the biggest of which is that non-targeted findings can turn up thousands of molecular features in a single sample. Sifting through the peaks is laborious, and many are normal besides.

Therefore, in this application note, our researchers took a comparative screening approach to NPS by testing urine samples against a control group using high resolution and accurate mass LC-MS/MS. The TripleTOF® system was then operated in IDA mode to acquire MS and MS/MS information simultaneously.Using this method reduced the compound list from thousands to just 10. Now that is a much more manageable sample size for which to analyze peak findings.

Application Note Overview:

• When testing for novel psychoactive substances (NPS) start with untargeted analysis and add unknowns to a targeted list.
• Perform a comparative unknown screening analysis to reduce the list of compounds from thousands to few. See what is not normal faster and with more accuracy.
• Reference MasterView™ Software, which has a powerful non-targeted peak finding algorithm that extracts peaks present in the sample.

Be confident in your NPS sample. Review the application note in its entirety.Download the Designer Forensic Drug Analysis Solution Kit >