Acidic drugs, forensic drug analysis

H.H. Maurer, Systematic toxicological analysis procedures for acidic drugs and/or metabolites relevant to clinical and forensic toxicology and/or doping control, J. Chromatogr. B, 733 (1999) 3. 

Forensic analysis of street drugs include that of cocaine together with excipients frequently encountered (579), amphetamines 080), and dyes found in heroin samples 081). An on-line photochemical derivitization of cannabinoids has been described 082). Other pharmaceutical agents studied in formation include nortriptyline in tablets. 083), glycyrrhizic acid from licorice extract 084, 585), pirimiphos methyl 086), digitalis glycosides 0S7), pilocarpine 088), and its antagonist atropine 009). 

The success of HPLC in forensic science is not due solely to these general developments. In-house research and development work has made a significant contribution and this has been, and still is, essential because of specific problems which are experienced in the analysis of casework samples. As a result of these developments, HPLC is now used extensively for the analysis of drugs, metabolites, rodenticides, anions, sugars, dyes, polymers, optical brighteners, explosives, fatty acids and other miscellaneous compounds. 

Lurie analyzed drugs of forensic interest on octadecyl columns with 0.005 M 1-heptane-sulfonic acid in methanol - water - acetic acid (40 59 l)(pH 3.5) (Table 7.3). The system enabled a simultaneous analysis of acidic, neutral and basic drugs. Among the compounds analyzed were the opium alkaloids (Fig. 7.11). A similar system was applied for the analysis of papaverine in plasma8. ... 

Theodoridis, G. Papadoyannis, I. Vasilikiotis, G. Tsoukali-Papadopoulou, H. Reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography-photodiode-array analysis of alkaloid drugs of forensic interest. J.Chromatogr.B, 1995, 668, 253-263 [also amphetamine, bamifylline, caffeine, cocaine, codeine, dia-morphine, ethylmorphine, flufenamic acid, methadone, morphine, nalorphine, norcodeine, papaverine, quinine, scopolamine, strychnine, theobromine, theophylline, tolfenamic acid]... 

Tuckermann, Bate, and Leddicotte (947) have estimated the concen-tractions of Cu, Zn, Mn, As, Sb, and Fe in many different pharmaceutical preparations. Johansen, Lunde, and Steinnes (431) and Skinner, Lenfer, and Parkhurst (860) also carried out similar studies. Trace metal impurities in ascorbic acid (638) Br and 1 in sodium glutamate (169) selenium in nicotinic acid (677) trace metals in tartar emetic (10) and Mn and Zn in lactose (705,706) were determined by activation analysis. In other studies Bate and Pro (58) Leddicotte, Emery, and Bate (525) and Schlesinger et al. (820) found it feasible to characterize and identify the origin of drugs usually considered to be primarily of interest to forensic scientists. 

See also Carbohydrates Sugars - Spectrophotometric Methods Sugars - Chromatographic Methods. Clinical Analysis Overview. Forensic Sciences Systematic Drug Identification. Liquid Chromatography Amino Acids. Vitamins Overview Fat-Soluble Water-Soluble. 

See also Blood and Plasma. Clinical Analysis Glucose. DNA Sequencing. Fluorescence Overview. Forensic Sciences Drug Screening in Sport. Microscopy Techniques Electron Microscopy Scanning Electron Microscopy Atomic Force and Scanning Tunneling Microscopy. Nucleic Acids Spectroscopic Methods. Raman Spectroscopy Instrumentation. Sensors Overview. 

Other uses of an IR microscope in forensic analysis include the examination of fibers, drugs, and traces of explosives. For example, oxidation of hair can occur chemically or by sunlight oxidation of cystine to cysteic acid can be seen in hair fibers by FTIR microscopy (Robotham and Izzia). Excellent examples in full color of FTIR imaging microscopy can be found on the websites of companies like PerkinElmer and Thermo Fisher Scientific. Our limitations in use of gray scale make many of the examples unsuited for reproduction in the text. A novel IR microscope combined with atomic force microscopy, the nanoIR platform from Anasys Instruments (www.anasysinstruments.com), permits nanoscale IR spectroscopy, AFM topography, nanoscale thermal analysis, and mechanical testing. 

---