Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis 100 (2014) 284–289 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis j o ur nal ho me page: www.elsevier.com/lo cate/jpba Short communication Ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry determination of hallucinogenic drugs in hair of psychedelic plants and mushrooms consumers Simona Pichini a,∗ , Emilia Marchei a , Oscar García-Algar b , Arelis Gomez b , Rita Di Giovannandrea a , Roberta Pacifici a a Drug Abuse and Doping Unit, Department of Therapeutic Research and Medicines Evaluation Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Roma 00161, Italy b Unitat de Recerca Infància i Entorn (URIE), Paediatric Service, Institut de Recerca Hospital delMar – IMIM, Barcelona, Spain a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 5 May 2014 Received in revised form 31 July 2014 Accepted 1 August 2014 Available online 10 August 2014 Keywords: Hair testing Mescaline N,N-dimethyltriptamine Psilocin Salvinorin A UHPLC–MS/MS a b s t r a c t A procedure based on ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry has been developed for the determination of mescaline, N,N-dimethyltryptamine, psilocin, psilocybin, salvinorin A in hair of consumers of psychedelic vegetal material such peyote or trichocereus cacti, psilocybe mush- rooms, Salvia divinorum or psychedelic beverage ayahuasca. After hair washing with methyl alcohol and diethyl ether and subsequent addition of mescaline-d 9 and 3,4-methylenedioxypropylamphetamine as internal standards, hair samples were treated with 250 l VMA-T M3 reagent for 1 h at 100 ◦ C. After cooling, 100 l M3 extract were diluted with 400 l water and a volume of 10 l was injected into chromatographic system. Chromatographic separation was achieved at ambient temperature using a reverse-phase column and a linear gradient elution with two solvents: 0.3% formic acid in acetonitrile and 5 mM ammonium formate pH 3. The mass spectrometer was operated in positive ion mode, using multiple reaction monitoring via positive electrospray ionization. The method was linear from the limit of quantification (0.03–0.05 ng/mg depending on analyte under investigation) to 10 ng/mg hair, with an intra- and inter-assay imprecision and inaccuracy always less than 15% and an analytical recovery between 79.6% and 97.4%, depending on the considered analyte. Using the validated method, mescaline was found in concentration range of 0.08–0.13 ng/mg in hair of peyote smokers, 3.2 ng salvinorin A per mg hair were determined in hair from a S. divinorum smoker, 5.6 ng N,N-dimethyltryptamine per mg hair from an ayahuasca user and finally 0.8 ng psilocybin per ng hair of a psilocybe consumer. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Even though currently “traditional drugs of abuse” (such as opioids, cocaine, cannabinoids and amphetamines) represents the 90% consumers’ demand, new psychotropic substances with stimu- lant or hallucinogenic properties have become increasingly popular among recreational drug users in recent years [1,2]. In particu- lar, an increase in the consumption of vegetable substances with a hallucinogenic effects has been observed [3]. This group includes the well-known “magic” mushrooms of the species Psilocybe that contain psilocybin and psilocin; Peyote (Lophophora williamsii) ∗ Corresponding author at: Department of Therapeutic Research and Medicines Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, V.le Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy. Tel.: +39 06 49906545; fax: +39 06 49902016. E-mail address: simona.pichini@iss.it (S. Pichini). and Trichocereus cacti rich in mescaline, Salvia divinorum leaves containing salvinorin A, as well as Mimosa hostilis roots bark or Ayahuasca decoction containing N,N-dimethyltryptamine [3–5]. These plants and mushrooms are obtainable not only in countries of origin [2], but also on internet web sites where, even if illegal in many countries, they can be easily bought and received anonymously avoiding normal law controls [6]. Buyers of psychedelic natural products look for mind-altering effects similar to those of LSD, acute perceptual changes (e.g. hearing colors and seeing sounds), subjective experiences, mystical experience with physiological effects similar to sympathetic arousal state [7]. Whereas analytical procedures for the determination of the above-reported hallucinogenic drugs are available in conventional biological matrices such as blood and urine [8–15], only mescaline has been successfully determined in a non conventional biologi- cal matrix such as hair to provide a reliable investigation tool to disclose a long-term abuse or past drug exposure [11]. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpba.2014.08.006 0731-7085/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.