Universal method to determine acidic licit and illicit drugs and personal care products in water by liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight

Graphical abstract
Pharmaceuticals, illicit drugs and personal care products are emerging contaminants widely distributed in water. Currently, a number of solid-phase extraction (SPE) procedures followed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) have been reported. However, target analysis of selected compounds is commonly used whereas other related contaminants present in the sample remain invisible. Carmona et al. [1] described a method for determining 21 emerging contaminants by LC–MS/MS with improved mobile phases. We tested this protocol in combination with high resolution mass spectrometry using a quadrupole time-of-flight (QqTOF) instrument to get a wide non-target screening approach in order to have a broader scope and more practical method for detecting licit and illicit drugs and personal care products than traditional target methods. The essential points in the method are: • The screening capabilities of QqTOF (ABSciex Triple TOF™) are used for detecting and identifying non-target pharmaceuticals and a large number of other emerging contaminants in water. • The quantitative features of the instrument, the Achilles heel of the QqTOF mass spectrometers, are established for few selected compounds. • The method may be applied to identify a large number of emerging contaminants in water. However, pre-validation will be needed to quantify them.