The high consumption of synthetic stimulant drugs is an emerging concern not only for its socio-economic and health implications but also for the potential impacts of residual drugs in the aquatic environment. In this study, we developed and validated an analytical method for detecting 4 common synthetic stimulants in sewage: methamphetamine, amphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), and 3,4-methylene-N-ethylamphetamine (MDEA). The process includes sample clean-up via solid phase extraction, elution with 5% formic acid water-methanol solvents, and analyte detection in an LC-MS/MS under positive ESI ionization. Limits of detection are 0.05 ng/L (methamphetamine and MDEA) and 0.15 ng/L (amphetamine and MDA)[satp1] ; recoveries ranged between 99.1±12.6% (amphetamine) and 135.5±10.6% (methaphetamine). The method was applied to analyze influent samples from 3 conventional sewage treatment plants. Frequencies of detection were: 100% for methamphetamine and amphetamine; 80% for MDA, and 20% for MDEA. Influent concentrations were highest for amphetamine (229.5±94.4% ng/L) and lowest for MDEA (17.44±0.1% ng/L). Analyte levels in the effluent were all above detection limits, indicating incomplete removal in the treatment plants. The analytical method presented in this paper is simple and rapid to implement, and can be used to study the occurrence and removal of synthetic stimulants in sewage.<br/><br/><br/>

Detection of synthetic stimulant drugs in sewage using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

256th National Meeting (2018)

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