Recent advances of liquid chromatography―(tandem) mass spectrometry in clinical and forensic toxicology

Abstract Liquid chromatography (LC) coupled to mass spectrometry (MS) or tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) is a well-established and widely used technique in clinical and forensic toxicology as well as doping control especially for quantitative analysis. In recent years, many applications for so-called multi-target screening and/or quantification of drugs, poisons, and or their metabolites in biological matrices have been developed. Such methods have proven particularly useful for analysis of so-called new psychoactive substances that have appeared on recreational drug markets throughout the world. Moreover, the evolvement of high resolution MS techniques and the development of data-independent detection modes have opened new possibilities for applications of LC–(MS/MS) in systematic toxicological screening analysis in the so called general unknown setting. The present paper will provide an overview and discuss these recent developments focusing on the literature published after 2010.