Modern Instrumental Methods in Forensic Toxicology

Abstract

This article reviews modern analytical instrumentation in forensic toxicology for identification and quantification of drugs and toxins in biological fluids and tissues. A brief description of the theory and inherent strengths and limitations of each methodology is included. The focus is on new technologies that address current analytical limitations. A goal of this review is to encourage innovations to improve our technological capabilities and to encourage use of these analytical techniques in forensic toxicology practice.

Challenges to Forensic Medicine in the Postmodern Era the Impact of the New Technologies

“…The advantages of ITMS are connected to its ability to examine various ions with an improved sensitivity (Smith et al, 2007).…”

“…Thirteen years later, in 2002, John Fenn and Koicki Tanaka won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for electrospray ionization, applied in forensic field in the LC-MS technology, which lead to an improvement and the widening of its application (Smith et al, 2007). LC technology is based on dissolution of the analytes and their separation based on differences in solubility between the two phases: mobile (liquid) and stationary (small solid particles).…”

“…LC technology is based on dissolution of the analytes and their separation based on differences in solubility between the two phases: mobile (liquid) and stationary (small solid particles). Improvements in the last decades of the 20 th century in the methods of LC, assume smaller diameters of the solid particles and pumps which are capable to produce a higher pressure with uniform flow (Smith et al, 2007).…”

“…The two technologies described above created multiple uses in forensic medicine, and allow the identification and quantification of a large number of products from biological fluids (small molecular weight drugs, steroids and toxins, and even macromolecules) (Smith et al, 2007).…”

“…Overall, advantages of new technologies in forensic toxicology concern various aspects such as: improvement of ruggedness which made it useful in hair analyses, blood and soft tissues; decrease in the time required for analysis; simpler and faster procedures due to the new designs of the software; increased veracity of the findings; increase in the resolution and precision; decrease in the limit of detection; possibility to widen the expertise of the toxicology laboratory due to better quality of the sample and, finally, increased reliability of the evidences provided to justice (Smith et al, 2007;Gorun et al, 2010).…”