Recent Advances in Mass Spectrometry-based Identification of Drug Metabolites

Identification of drug metabolites is an important part of drug metabolism research and the material basis of pharmacology and pharmacodynamics research. Mass spectrometry is a major detection method for drug metabolites due to its high sensitivity and extensive application. In general, the methods of drug metabolites identification include reference standards comparison, literature and database matching, comprehensive spectrometry analysis, radioisotope labeling and computer-assisted structural elucidation. In this paper, recent advances in these methods were summarized in order to provide reference for the identification of drug metabolites.