Single-Use Poly(etheretherketone) Solid-Phase Microextraction-Transmission Mode Devices for Rapid Screening and Quantitation of Drugs of Abuse in Oral Fluid and Urine via Direct Analysis in Real-Time Tandem Mass Spectrometry.

ABSTRACT

The analysis of oral fluid (OF) and urine samples to detect drug consumption has garnered considerable attention as alternative biomatrices. Efficient implementation of microextraction and ambient ionization technologies for rapid detection of target compounds in such biomatrices creates a need for biocompatible devices which can be implemented for in vivo sampling and easily interfaced with mass spectrometry (MS) analyzers. This study introduces a novel solid-phase microextraction-transmission mode (SPME-TM) device made of poly(etheretherketone) (PEEK) mesh that can rapidly detect prohibited substances in biofluids via direct analysis in real-time tandem MS (DART-MS/MS). PEEK mesh was selected due to its biocompatibility, excellent resistance to various organic solvents, and its ability to withstand relatively high temperatures (≤350 °C). The meshes were coated with hydrophilic-lipophilic-balance particle-poly(acrylonitrile) (HLB-PAN) slurry. The robustness of the coated meshes was tested by performing rapid vortex agitation (≥3200 rpm) in LC/MS-grade solvents and by exposing them to the DART source jet stream at typical operational temperatures (∼250-350 °C). PEEK SPME-TM devices proved to be robust and were therefore used to perform ex vivo analysis of drugs of abuse spiked in urine and OF samples. Excellent results were obtained for all analytes under study; furthermore, the tests yielded satisfactory limits of quantitation (median, ∼0.5 ng mL-1), linearity (≥0.99), and accuracy (80-120%) over the evaluated range (0.5-200 ng mL-1). This research highlights plastic SPME-TM's potential usefulness as a method for rapidly screening for prohibited substances in on-site/in vivo scenarios, such as roadside or workplace drug testing, antidoping controls, and pain management programs.