The forensic community has experienced an increasing emergence of New Psychoactive Substances (NPSs) in recent years. The fi ve main classes of NPSs include the synthetic cannabinoid compounds, stimulants such as the derivatives of cathinone, opioids such as fentanyl, psychedelics, and non-pharmaceutical benzodiazepines. The automated extraction and determination of other classes of NPS compounds using the GERSTEL MultiPurpose Sampler (MPS) roboticPRO have been previously developed and discussed [1,2,3]. In this work, we show that the same robotic sampler can be used to automate the extraction and determination of the psychedelic NPS compounds in serum samples and seized blotter paper samples.

The entire liquid-liquid extraction and subsequent analysis by LCMS/MS is automated providing critically needed high throughput analysis for the psychedelic NPS compounds in either sample type. Using the GERSTEL MPS roboticPRO sampler, syringe transfer of all liquids involved in the liquid-liquid extraction as well as the controlled mixing, centrifugation, and evaporation of the samples for defi ned periods are performed. The resulting extracts are introduced into the Agilent Ultivo LC-MS/MS instrument for detection and quantifi cation.