What is the future of (ultra) high performance liquid chromatography coupled to low and high resolution mass spectrometry for toxicological drug screening?

This paper reviews critically LC–MS approaches for toxicological drug screening using (ultra) high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled to low and high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) published since 2010. A concluding discussion focuses on progress and current status of sample workup, separation by HPLC vs. UHPLC, MS detection modes and their specificity, universality of LC–MS libraries, and validation necessary of LC–MS for screening methods. Finally, a discussion on what the future holds for LC–MS drug screening in clinical and forensic toxicology completes this review article.

► Review of approaches for drug screening using all types of LC–MS. ► Concluding discussion on workup, separation, MS detection, libraries, validation. ► Discussion on what the future holds for LC–MS drug screening.