Evaluation of drugs of abuse extraction from whole blood using Supported Liquid Extraction (SLE) prior to GC/MS analysis

Whole blood continues to be a valuable tool in forensic toxicology for the immediate and near-term detection of illicit drugs, and in cases where no other sample is available. Screening drugs of abuse can be complicated due to the wide variation of functional groups associated with different analyte classes. Most extraction techniques cannot extract all analytes using a single procedure without using non-optimal extraction protocols resulting in compromised extract cleanliness. Supported liquid extraction allows for the simultaneous analysis of cross functional analytes in a single extraction protocol without forfeiting extract cleanliness.