Rapid screening and confirmation of weight-loss illegally added drugs in health foods

The high resolution mass spectrometry database of weight-loss illegally added drugs was established base on liquid chromatography-diode array detector-ion trap-time of flight tandem mass spectrometry (LC-DAD-MS-IT-TOF)．The analytes in samples were extracted with acetonitrile and the extract was purified with the mixed QuEChERS sorbents. In the chromatographic analysis, target compounds were separated on a ZORBAX Eclipse AAA column (150 mm × 4.6 mm, 4.5 μm) with the gradient elution using the mobile phases of acetonitrile and water containing 0.1% acetic acid. The results showed that the screening detection limit (SDL)of the target compounds were ranged from 0.10～0.75 mg/kg. The method validation was carried out at SDL levels，and the recoveries were 49.4%～88.1%. with the relative standard deviations(RSDs) of 5.0%～14.8%．The characteristic absorption wavelength of illegally added drugs was determined by UV spectrum. The screening of analytes was performed by precision mass matching and library searching. The retention time, isotopic abundance and multiple-stage ion mass spectral was employed to the confirmation. Moreover, the ion fragmentation patterns of these drugs can be exploited to predict the chemical formula and the fragmentation pathway.This method is simple, fast, credible and high sensitivity, which can be applied to simultaneous screening and identification of illegally added drugs in health foods.