Mass spectrometry has been the technique of choice in anti-doping labs since the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984. Since then, a combination of targeted tandem mass spectrometry and high-resolution techniques have been used to quantify and identify anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs, respectively. Recently, the promise of ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS) has been…

Protomers, or prototropic isomers, are protonation site isomers than can be resolved using ion mobility spectrometry. Dating back to their first report by Karpas et al. in 1990, decades of literature have studied their fundamental properties. Recently, our group and others have identified the presence of protomers for many fentanyl analogues, owing to their multiple…

Where the resolving power of IM-MS techniques is insufficient to differentiate challenging isomers, various chemical approaches have been used to alter their mobility with the goal of better separations. We are primarily focused on simple, fast, and inexpensive reactions targeting common steroid functional groups. Thus far, we have published on reactions with ozone, simple carbonyls…

New psychoactive substances (NPS) are a broad class of illicit drugs that pose a significant public health threat. Our group is developing novel ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS) methods and technology for their detection.   Representative Papers: Separation and Characterization of Synthetic Cannabinoid Metabolite Isomers Using SLIM High-Resolution Ion Mobility-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (HRIM-MS/MS) Improved separation of…