Page 76 - Advances in Forensic Applications of Mass Spectrometry - Jehuda Yinon

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2.3.6 LC/MS of Multiple Drugs of Abuse
2.4 LC/MS Analysis of Therapeutic Drugs of Forensic Relevance
2.4.1 Incapacitating Drugs
2.4.1.1 Benzodiazepines
2.4.1.2 Ketamine
2.4.2 Antidiabetic Drugs
2.4.2.1 Oral Antidiabetic Drugs
2.4.2.2 Insulin
2.4.3 Muscle Relaxants
2.4.4 Antidepressant and Antipsychotic Drugs
2.4.5 Other Therapeutic Compounds of Forensic Relevance
2.5 LC/MS Analysis of Natural Compounds of Forensic Relevance
2.6 Screening LC/MS Procedures in Forensic Toxicology
2.6.1 Group Screening for Pharmacologically Related
Substances
2.6.2 General Undirected Screening
2.6.2.1 Undirected Screening Using LC/MS
Procedures
2.6.2.2 Undirected Screening using LC/MS/MS
Procedures (QQQ, qTOF, and qIT)
2.7 Perspectives and Future Trends
References

2.1 Introduction

Toxicology may be generally defined as a scientific search for a causal rela-
tionship between exposure to a given compound and observed biological
effect. Analytical toxicology provides all the technically refined tools indis-
pensable for detection of toxic compounds or — in other words — for the
assessment of the exposure. These tools, as well as the whole analytical
strategy, may be different in various toxicological disciplines. In forensic
toxicology, only those methods may be successfully applied which combine
efficient separation of the relevant compound from the biological matrix
with the most specific detection. LC/MS fulfils the requirements of forensic
toxicological analysis due to high selectivity, possibility of detection of active
metabolites, and efficient screening in unclear death cases. For this reason,
also, due to gradual introduction of low-cost LC/MS instruments, this tech-
nique is now finding an increasingly important place in forensic toxicolog-
ical laboratories.
LC/MS underwent major evolution in the last decade. From an expen-
sive, difficult, and not always reliable hyphenated technique, it changed to

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