Mass Spectrometry Database Committee

American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Toxicology Section


2010 UPDATE!     Short-cut to download page.

Goals

The committee was set up to coordinate the generation of reliable mass spectra of new drugs and metabolite standards, and to make these available to the profession on a timely basis.

Software Compatibility

Libraries made available by the committee primarily designed to be compatible with Agilent (HP) 5970/71/72/73/75 series instruments that have PC-based DOS/Windows ChemStation operating systems. See the Software Compatibility page for a fuller discussion.

Note: that the AAFS Drug Library used to be posted in other manufacturer’s formats. This is a fair amount of work, and it is not clear how many users require this.  If you would like the library in another (non-Agilent/HP) format, please contact Dr. Graham Jones (see below).

Newer Drug Spectra

The latest version of the mini-library of full mass spectra of newer drugs, metabolites and some breakdown products was created January 2010. An alphabetical list of the entries is given.

Acknowledgments: "Thank you" to Dr. Ruth Winecker (Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Chapel Hill, NC), Dr. Sarah Kerrigan (Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX), Dan Anderson (Los Angeles Co. Coroner/ME Toxicology Laboratory) and Denice Teem (Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office, Detroit, MI) for providing drug standard spectra for the 2010 update.

'Comprehensive' Drug Library

This is a compilation of over 2700 pure drug spectra and/or GC breakdown products, including many replicate entries. This drug library contains spectra for several hundred different substances. The current version of the full spectra library was last updated January 2010.

Also New for 2010!!

It is an unfortunate fact that unless a back-extraction is performed, extracts of most postmortem blood samples contain a myriad of fats and artifacts.  To help clearly label these and differentiate them from potential drug spectra, several dozen fatty acid and phthalate spectra have been added to the 2010 version – these spectra are derived from pure standards.  In addition, several dozen “artifact” spectra have been included – these are largely derived from dilute extracts of silicone rubber septa.  Although these are not included in the original mandate of the committee, some of us have found their inclusion useful.  Your feedback is welcome.

Who to Contact

For more information about these Web pages and the data referenced therein, or about the inter-conversion of mass spectral library data, contact Dr. Graham Jones, Chief Toxicologist, Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: graham.jones@gov.ab.ca.

Disclaimer

The information and data contained within, or otherwise made available via within these Web pages is offered freely for the information and assistance of forensic toxicologists and allied professions. While every care has been taken to avoid errors, neither the committee, nor the Toxicology Section of the AAFS, will be held liable for the consequences of any errors which may have been overlooked. It is the responsibility of any end-user of the information, regardless of profession, to ensure that decisions regarding the final identification of drugs or their metabolites are independently verified.

However, we would be grateful if any errors discovered could be brought to our attention, so that they may be corrected.

This file was last updated February 2, 2010