| Abstrak/Abstract |
Psychoactive substances, including narcotics and psychotropics, are frequently abused for recreational purposes,
leading to addiction and severe health complications. Their deliberate contamination of foods also poses sig
nificant health risks. Effective monitoring and developing robust analytical methods to detect these substances
are crucial. This study developed an ultrasound-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (UA-DLLME)
method that minimizes solvent and sample volume requirements, coupled with liquid chromatography-tandem
mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for the simultaneous determination of eight psychoactive substances in hard
candy. A Box-Behnken Design (BBD) evaluated three key factors influencing extraction efficiency: extraction
solvent volume (X
1
; 1.5–2.5mL), sodium chloride (NaCl) concentration (X
2
; 0–10%), and pH (X
; 8–10). The
response surface methodology (RSM) optimized analyte recovery, identifying optimal conditions as 1.5mL ethyl
acetate, 3.33 % NaCl, and pH 8.14. Validation of the UA-DLLME-LC-MS/MS technique, performed according to
international guidelines, demonstrated low limits of detection, reaching 0.004µg g
3
1
cation (0.01µg g
1
(ketamine) and quantifi
) while providing high precision (coefficient of variation lower than 15%), and accuracy
(recoveries up to 106.50%). This method successfully determined eight psychoactive substances in commercially
available hard candy. |
