Forensic toxicologists need an economical solution to screen for a virtually unlimited number of compounds in urine. Here we present a method for screening using a dilute-and-shoot approach with the Q Exactive Focus mass spectrometer and Thermo Scientific ToxFinder software. For forensic use only.

In Westernized cultures, dietary supplements have been gaining popularity in recent years. In China, traditional herbal supplements have been used for millennia. In both cases, the threat of adulteration and need for further characterization of ingredients have been driving forces behind the need for increased screening. This note presents a new approach to the rapid screening of a product marketed as an herbal weight loss aid and the fingerprint characterization of omega fatty acid dietary supplements derived from marine and flaxseed oils.

Marine biotoxins are produced by naturally occurring microalgae, whose populations can increase significantly under certain environmental conditions to form a harmful algal bloom (HAB). Marine biotoxins pose a significant food safety risk when bioaccumulated in shellfish that are ingested by humans. We describe the use of the Thermo Scientific Exactive benchtop LC/MS system powered by Orbitrap technology for screening lipophilic marine biotoxins commonly found in shellfish. The method was optimized using a standard mixture of marine biotoxins, and then applied to a mussel tissue extract.

Screening of pesticides, mycotoxins and veterinary drugs is of great importance in regulated environments (e.g. food and animal feed analysis). The use of triple quadrupole MS is popular, but has certain limitations: no post acquisition re-interrogation of data, limited number of compounds per analysis, and no ability to screen for unidentified unknowns. In this work, we show a full scan screening approach using a novel single stage Orbitrap mass spectrometer coupled to U-HPLC, providing high mass accuracy at high resolutions, elemental composition, and resolving co-eluting targets.

There is increasing demand to provide rapid and selective screening techniques for a wide range of antibiotic drugs. Their abuse as a feed supplement in food animals is of growing concern and is subject to regulations globally. Creating screening methods for multiple analytes is more cost effective than dedicated methods for fewer analytes. This application shows the advantages of using the Thermo Scientific Accucore Vanquish C18 UHPLC 1.5 µm column and Vanquish UHPLC system for the analysis of thirty-six antibiotics.