Fast analysis of drugs in a single hair

Abstract

A new method for the fast screening of cocaine and 6-monoacetylmorphine (6-MAM) in a single hair, using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), is described. The analyses are conducted in less than 10 min with minimal sample preparation. The novel method combines the ChromatoProbe direct sample introduction device for intrainjector thermal extraction, fast GC separation, a supersonic molecular beam GC/MS interface and hyperthermal surface ionization (HSI). The technique has been successfully employed for the detection of cocaine in as little as a 1-mm section of hair using selected ion monitoring (SIM). Unambiguous full scan mass spectra of cocaine and 6-MAM were obtained on a single hair for cocaine and heroin users, respectively. HSI was found to be almost 3 orders of magnitude more selective than electron impact ionization for cocaine compared with the major hair constituents, with a minimum detected concentration of approximately 10 ppb in the SIM mode. Results obtained for 12 drugs users showed full qualitative agreement with similar results using rigorous solvent extraction followed by electrospray-liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis. However, quantitative studies showed only partial agreement. No false positives were observed for 10 drugs free subjects. This method enables fast drug monitoring along the hair length which permits time correlation studies.

Recreational Drug Use: A Major Risk Factor for Gastroschisis?

“…However, in subjects with fine and/or sparse hair the collection of 100 or more hairs may not be acceptable and indeed, even if this many were collected, may still not be of an adequate weight for analysis when focusing on one small segment of the hair. In the forefront of hair analysis techniques are being developed where recreational drugs and/or their metabolites can be detected in as little as one hair (Wainhaus et al 1998). In studies focusing on short time periods, using small segments of hair, these new techniques should be considered.…”

“…It is a very powerful tool that with tandem mass spectrometry has recently demonstrated an ability to detect a 'date rape' drug (gamma-hydroxybutyric acid or GHB) following a single exposure to the drug (Kintz et al 2003). Indeed, positive evidence of drug abuse has been found from the analysis of a single hair, (Wainhaus et al 1998 Recreational drug use has also increased substantially over the same period, particularly in younger people. The prevalence of recreational drug use during pregnancy and the subsequent impact upon the fetuses of pregnant women, within this group is, however, unknown.…”

The interface between forensic science and technology: how technology could cause a paradigm shift in the role of forensic institutes in the criminal justice system

“…This type of sample introduction is made available on a number of mobile GC-MS systems under different names, e.g. prepless sample introduction probe, direct sample introduction probe or Chromatoprobe [38]. To reduce the size of the mobile GC-MS systems, a transition to ion trap based mass spectrometric detectors is seen [39,40].…”

Separation of cocaine stereoisomers by capillary electrophoresis using sulfated cyclodextrins

“…Cocaine, a common drug of abuse [1,2,3,4,5,6,7], stimulates the central nervous system and the cardiovascular system [8]. Most of the analytical methods for determining cocaine in biological samples have focused on its metabolites, benzoylecgonine and ecgonine methyl ester [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16].…”