Forensics

The Forensics 664 vMethod: Accurate and Specific Forensic Toxicology Screening
An estimated 183,000 drug-related deaths occurred worldwide in 2012, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 2014 World Drug Report [1] and more than 300 million people (7% of the global population) used an illicit drug last year. These statistics clearly display a critical need for law enforcement agencies to undertake specific and accurate drug testing. Forensic toxicology screening identifies drugs and their metabolites, chemicals, volatile substances, gases and metals in human tissues for law enforcement purposes. It relies on the identification of unknown compounds from complex samples and information-rich data sets.
During recent years, mass spectrometry, and specifically LC-MS/MS has become the industry’s preferred method for forensic toxicology screening due to its sensitivity, selectivity and accuracy over conventional methods such as GC, GC-MS and UV detection.
An ideal approach is quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (QTOF-MS) as it provides high-resolution, accurate-mass data for full-scan information of both precursor ions and all product ions. An LC-MS/MS-based toxicological screening method has recently been developed that includes the retention times for 664 forensic compounds. When combined with high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) and HR-MS/MS information, the retention time enables more accurate compound identification and an enhanced ability to identify structurally similar isomers.
This is the first verified method for forensic drug screening using the X500R QTOF system and data generated from this method offer more confirmation criteria than nominal mass triple quad workflows. The unique high-resolution spectra deliver unrivalled confidence in reporting the detected analyte. Cross-referencing the data with a forensic library gives added confirmation and the method reduces the risk of reporting false positives and false negatives that could compromise an investigation.