Determination of nine new fentanyl analogues and metabolites in consumers’ urine by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract. – OBJECTIVE: New fentanyl an-alogues have been constantly emerging into the illegal drug market as cheap substitutes of heroin posing a serious health threat for consumers because of their high toxicity. An- alytical methods to disclose the presence of these compounds in biological fluids of intox-icated individuals need to be updated to keep up with the new trends. In this study, we up- dated an ultra-high-performance liquid chro- matography-tandem mass spectrometry meth- od previously developed, for detecting some new fentanyl analogues and metabolites (sufen-tanil and norsufentanil, cis-3-methylnorfentan- yl, trans-3-methylnorfentanyl, metabolites of cis and transmethylfentanyl, beta-phenylfentan- yl, phenylfentanyl, para-fluoro furanyl fentan- yl, isobutyryl fentanyl and ocfentanil) in urine sample.