LAUSR

Abstract New psychoactive substances of synthetic cannabinoids are cannabinoid receptor agonists which interact with the endocannabinoid system. They have become alternatives to traditional drugs by criminals for profit. Rapid detection of synthetic cannabinoids became the primary task in forensic science. Direct analysis in real time-tandem mass spectrometry (DART-MS/MS) was used to establish a rapid screening method on 23 synthetic cannabinoids in human whole blood. First, 100 ng/mL synthetic cannabinoid standards were used for mass spectrometry optimization to determine the mass spectrum conditions. Then the temperature of DART ion source was optimized to 400 °C. Acetonitrile - Methanol (V/V = 4/1) was used for the pretreatment of biological samples. Finally，the samples were centrifuged and the supernatant was extracted for detection by the DART 12Dip-it automatic sampling system. The results show that the linear relationships range between 0.01 and 5 μg/mL, the coefficients of determination (R2) range from 0.99 to 1, the limits of detection (LODs) are all between 0.01 and 1 ng/mL, the relative standard deviations (RSDs) of repeatability and intra-day and inter-day precision are all below 14%. The results indicate that the method would be suitable for the rapid screening of analytes which may contain synthetic cannabinoids. Meanwhile, the method has the characteristics of simple, efficient, fast and environmentally friendly, which provides effective data support for rapid screening of synthetic cannabinoids in forensic science. However, there are also some challenges such as screening in crime scene and manual error. In the future, with the development of science and technology, the improvement of portable equipment or others can effectively overcome the challenges.