Simultaneous determination of etomidate and its derivatives in wastewater with online SPE-HPLC-MS/MS

Clicks: 9
ID: 337581
2026
Free PDF
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal
Emerging

Ranked #67 of 68 articles by views in journal of analytical toxicology

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Sign in to mint
Abstract
Etomidate (ETM), a short-acting intravenous sedative, has been increasingly abused, particularly among young people in China and other parts of East Asia, leading to severe health issues and prompting regulatory control. Along with the control of ETM, several new ETM derivatives have emerged as substitutes. High-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) is a widely used analytical technique for identifying and quantifying abused substances in wastewater, which faces challenges due to low analyte concentrations and matrix interference. This study introduces an online solid-phase extraction (SPE)-HPLC-MS/MS method for the simultaneous determination of ETM, its major metabolite etomidate acid, and eight ETM derivatives in wastewater. The HPLC-MS/MS conditions, including column selection, mobile phase composition, and sample pretreatment conditions, were optimized, respectively. Method validation demonstrated excellent linearity across calibration ranges of 1 to 1000 ng L-1, with limits of detection (LOD) and limits of quantification (LOQ) ranging from 0.2 to 3 ng L-1 and 1 to 10 ng L-1, respectively. The method exhibited satisfactory accuracy with recovery values ranging from 86.6% to 108.6%, and high precision with relative standard deviations between 4.8% and 13.9%. The validated method was successfully applied to analyze 40 authentic wastewater samples, of which four tested positive. The detected compounds included ETM (8.2 and 13.4 ng L-1 in two samples), metomidate (MEM) (6.8 ng L-1), and isopropoxate (IPX) (14.5 ng L-1). These findings make the method suitable for accurate and rapid monitoring of ETM and its derivatives in wastewater, providing a robust analytical tool for future wastewater-based epidemiology investigations.
Reference Key
openalex_W7151493165 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Jiahui Wu, Hong Song, Peng Zhao, Xianxin Chen, Jian Zhang, Bingbin Zhu, Yilei Fan, Qing Shen, Haixing Wang
Are you one of these authors? Claim your profile
Journal journal of analytical toxicology
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/jat/bkag094
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/jat/bkag094
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.