Fentanyl and fentanyl derivatives are easily synthesized opioids, with a potency of 80 times that of morphine, that have become increasingly problematic to anti-drug agencies by significantly compounding the fatality rate of drug users. The simplicity of the synthesis and toxicity of new and existing fentanyl derivatives requires rapid and confident characterizations and identifications of these analogues. Drift tube ion mobility spectrometry (DTIMS) coupled with quadrupole-time-of-flight (Q-TOF) mass spectrometry was implemented as a novel approach to the characterization and detection of fentanyl and fentanyl derivatives. Fentanyl and nine fentanyl derivatives were investigated as protonated and sodiated species. Collision cross sections (CCS), source fragmentation patterns, and MS/MS fragmentation patterns were identified. Experimental results revealed unique CCS for each species with the protonated species presenting more predominately. The isomer pair ortho-fluorofentanyl and para-fluorofentanyl were among the compounds investigated and defined by CCSN2 values of 183.8 Å2 and 186.4 Å2, respectively. A distinct MS/MS fragment common to all investigated fentanyl analogues; and the sensitivity of the technique was also evaluated through a limit of detection investigation using multiplexing. This study demonstrates that the use of ion mobility-mass spectrometry for the characterization of fentanyl and its derivatives improves the selectivity and speed of the current characterization techniques.

Characterization of fentanyl analogues using ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS)

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

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