Heroin forensic interest

These authors reported high efficiency separations of heroin, heroin impurities, degradation products, and adulterants (Fig. 8.1). Also discriminated were acidic and neutral impurities present in heroin seized by law enforcement agencies, as well as in illicit cocaine samples, with resolution of benzoylecgon-ine, cocaine, cis- and frans-cinnamoylcocaine. MEKC was also used with a broad spectrum of other compounds of forensic interest, including psilocybin, morphine, phenobarbital, psilocin, codeine, methaqualone, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), amphetamine, chlordiazepoxide, methamphetamine, lora-zepam, diazepam, fentanyl, phencyclidine hydrochloride (PCP), cannabidiol, and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which were all separated with baseline resolution. 

Forensic laboratories are interested in identifying and assessing trace impurities in bulk pharmaceutical products with the idea of using the impurity profile as a fingerprint of the manufacturer. Of course, RS can be an important aid in this process. It has been demonstrated, for instance, that static headspace GS coupled with mass spectrometry (MS) was able to detect and identify volatile impurities, making possible the characterization of illicit heroin or cocaine samples. 

Raman spectroscopy has been applied to a range of different materials of interest to the forensic scientist. A wide range of narcotics can be identified including heroin, cocaine and amphetamines. The... 

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