Recent advances in exhaled breath sample preparation technologies for drug of abuse detection
Fei Xu, Jiedan Zhou, Yang Hai, Linzhou Chen, Jinjian Zhong, Yihong Peng, Ke Wu, Yukai Wang, Huajun Fan, Xiangliang Yang, Yuliang Zhao
Abstract
This current review focuses on contributions to exhaled breath (EB) preparation in drug of abuse (DOA) detection. DOA has caused health hazards, accidents, criminal acts and huge financial loss to society and individuals. The psychological resistance of drug suspect is the key issue leading to difficult sampling for DOA detection, and non-invasive EB analysis can solve this touchy problem. Available EB sampling devices and related sample pretreatment methods have been developed, and successfully coupled with various chromatographic approaches to achieve detection of DOAs. This review details EB sampling devices such as exhaled breath condensate (EBC) devices, EB bags, adsorbent-based devices, emphasizing the use of adsorbent to improve concentration and enrichment of target analytes. The sample pretreatment methods such as liquid-liquid extraction (LLE), solid-phase extraction (SPE), solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and thermal desorption (TD) are also introduced to accomplish the connection with chromatographic analysis of DOAs. Furthermore, the applications of EB analysis in different kinds of DOAs are summarized and commented. Finally, the challenges and future perspectives are discussed carefully on sampling devices and sample pretreatment techniques applied in DOA detection for anti-drug enforcement worldwide.