Posters & Presentations

The Analysis of Drugs of Abuse (DoA) and Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) in Oral Fluids by LC-MS/MS

22 Jan 2026

Testing for drugs in biological matrices is an important part of toxicology and workplace drug testing. The “gold standard” matrices that have been used for decades are typically blood and urine, however, the collection of these two matrices is invasive. The analysis of drugs of abuse in oral fluids is a solution that is gaining popularity due to its ease of collection compared to blood or urine collection. However, there are some issues with the buffer used in the collection devices when performing the oral fluid analysis. Finding a workflow that uses a simple sample preparation paired with accurate and robust quantitation of the analytes is important for laboratories running these tests.

A panel of 65 DoA and NPS were analyzed in oral fluid using a SALLE sample preparation technique and LC-MS/MS. This method demonstrates an accurate and robust solution for the analysis of these analytes. This method also offers a quick and efficient sample preparation procedure that cleans up with sample and removes buffer surfactants, without the need for SPE or other tedious extraction techniques, leading to faster processing of samples in high through-put laboratories.

Author

  • Samantha Herbick

    Samantha Herbick is an applications scientist within the LC Solutions Department at Restek. Her primary focus is on the development of applications in the toxicology and life science markets. She attended Duquesne University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and a master's degree in forensic science and law. Prior to joining Restek, Samantha worked as a scientist and method developer in a forensic toxicology lab. In this role, she performed analysis on toxicology casework and worked on the development and validation of new and existing assays using LC-MS/MS, GC-MS, and GC-FID.

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