Les sels QuEChERS pour l'identification et la quantification de benzodiazépines et métabolites dans les prélèvements biologiques par LC-MS/MS

We report the development of an analytical procedure for the measurement of benzodiazepines, where the extraction step is based on QuEChERS salts, for application in clinical toxicology and forensic science. Forty-three benzodiazepines are considered : 24 commercialized compounds, 10 of their metabolites, 8 designer benzodiazepines and 2-amino-5-chloropyridine (ACP ; degradation product of zopiclone). The liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) system consists in a Pinnacle DB PFPP (50 mm × 2.1 mm with particle size of 1.9 μm ; Restek) column coupled with a 8050 MS system (Shimadzu®, France). The whole procedure was validated according to ISO 15189 standard (except for the 8 designer benzodiazepines and ACP) and its performance was tested in the biological samples of 50 patients. About 30 to 45 min are needed for the preparation of 10 patient samples, 2 internal quality controls and 6 points of calibration standards. This produces results in less than 3 hours, which reduces to 1 hour for a single patient.