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Analysis of Carbohydrates in Seized Heroin Using Capillary Electrophoresis
Author(s) -
Lurie Ira,
Hays Patrick,
Valentino Ann
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2005.00017.x
Subject(s) - capillary electrophoresis , chromatography , heroin , chemistry , medicine , pharmacology , drug
Illicitly produced heroin is commonly cut with carbohydrates to increase bulk. The analysis of these solutes is important for legal and intelligence purposes. A capillary electrophoresis (CE) method was developed for the qualitative analysis of dextrose, lactose, sucrose, inositol, and mannitol in heroin exhibits. For this method, a 64 cm (55.5 cm to detector window) by 50 μm capillary was used with the Agilent Basic Anion Buffer modified to pH 12.1. This separation was performed at 25°C with a voltage of 20 kV and indirect detection with 2,6‐pyridinedicarboxylic acid as the visualization reagent. The methodology is also applicable for the screening of inorganic and organic anions using indirect detection, and acidic adulterants using direct detection. For a run time of 13 min, the relative standard deviation ( n =6) of the methodology was better than 0.36% for migration times and less than 2.6% for corrected peak areas. For the analysis of carbohydrates and acidic adulterants in seized heroin, excellent agreement was obtained between CE and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.