Characterization of benzodiazepine drugs by ion mobility spectrometry.

Chemical ionization ion mobility spectrometry (CI-IMS) was used to characterize a number of benzodiazepines. In almost every example studied, the positive ion mobility spectrum consisted of a single ion peak corresponding to [M]+ or [MH]+. With some compounds, e.g., oxazepam, lorazepam, and chlordiazepoxide, fragment ions were noted that serve as good markers for the identification of these chemicals. Reduced mobility constants (K0) for the most significant peaks were calculated, and all ions produced were mass-analyzed by injection into a quadrupole mass spectrometer. The results of this study point to the potential of IMS as a qualitative tool for the rapid detection (analysis time less than 10 s) and reliable identification of benzodiazepines. Preliminary results on the application of digital signal processing and a second-derivative algorithm to partially overlapping IMS peaks are presented, and potential improvements are discussed.