Simultaneous extraction and screening of diuretics, beta-blockers, selected stimulants and steroids in human urine by HPLC-MS/MS and UPLC-MS/MS

Described herein are two general screening procedures for the simultaneous determination of 49 exogenous compounds (21 diuretics, 19 beta-blockers, eight stimulants and two steroidal drugs) in human urine by high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) and ultra performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). Urine samples were extracted using a simple and robust solid phase extraction (SPE) method. Samples were injected onto reversed phase HPLC and UPLC columns connected to tandem mass spectrometers capable of scan-to-scan polarity switching. The methods were validated according to the ISO 17025 international standard for the validation of a qualitative method. Sixty urine samples submitted for routine analysis were tested using both methods, the results of which correlated with results obtained from previously validated procedures. Both methods proved to be useful for routine urine analysis; most notably, the use of UPLC-MS/MS demonstrated that samples can be reliably screened with significantly reduced analysis times.