The Daily Bulletin

Please join the Chemistry Department for the next seminar of the fall 2023 seminar series, "Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry Assay for Quantifying Fentanyl and 22 Analogs and Metabolites in Whole Blood, Urine, and Hair," presented by Julie Milbrand, M.S. candidate in forensic science at SUNY Buffalo State University, on Thursday, November 16, at 12:15 p.m in Science and Mathematics Complex 175. 

Abstract
Infamously known for its high potency and lethal capabilities, fentanyl and its analogs have been ravaging through the illicit drug market, fueling the opioid epidemic. Before its illicit use and abuse, fentanyl was FDA approved to be used within the medical field as a pain management medication and has remained one of the most prescribed opioids in the past three decades. Because of the very small amount needed to cause an overdose and subsequent death and the fact that it is highly lipid soluble, it is a relatively difficult task to both detect and quantify the amount of fentanyl or fentanyl analogs in postmortem cases and requires highly sensitive analytical instruments. Previous methods of fentanyl and analog identification included the implementation of liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Although this analytical device is sufficient in the detection of the substances within the postmortem samples, the popular methods are not comprehensive enough to include all the known analogs of fentanyl in the market, not validated for detecting analogs in hair—only blood and urine—and include a low sensitivity for analyte detection. With fentanyl and its analogs dominating the opioid-related deaths for the past several years within the U.S., an updated, simple, fast, comprehensive, and sensitive method for detecting and quantifying fentanyl and its many analogs was the goal of this study. Using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry to accomplish this task, the authors of this study were able to develop an eight-minute method of detecting 22 different analogs and metabolites of fentanyl, in addition to fentanyl itself, which was validated to have a high sensitivity and low matrix effect among the three matrices tested.