Show Preview - PEFTEC 2017 Analyse Legal Highs, Narcotics and Cutting Agents Using ATR-FTIR
Drugs, blood and semen are often found at crime scenes and several forensic analyses exist to test them. Border protection and security services who stop and search criminals also rely on these presumptive and confi rmatory tests to determine what certain substances are. This note shows how the Specac Quest ATR accessory can be used as a powerful tool in confi rmatory testing of narcotics.
Results & Discussion 12 Drug samples taken from a UK music festival were analysed by Staffordshire University in collaboration with Staffordshire Police to determine what narcotics they contained.
Roughly 1 mg of each sample was placed onto the Quest ATR, without any sample preparation. The Quest ATR was connected to a spectrometer and spectra of the drugs were recorded. Figure 1 shows the ATR spectra of 3 common drug samples: ketamine, mephedrone and cocaine. Each drug has its own unique signal peaks and shapes, especially in the lower wavenumber region, from 1500 – 500 cm-1
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The computer can quickly distinguish two samples and even identify if the sample is pure or cut with other substances. Of course, not all seized drugs are pure and cutting agents alter the street value and chemistry of drugs. The Quest ATR can be used to detect the cutting agents.
Benzocaine is a local anaesthetic that can mimic the numbing feeling that cocaine gives. Figure 2 shows how the spectrum of pure cocaine changes when it is cut with benzocaine, a common bulking agent. Buyers can be duped into buying cocaine that is actually 100% benzocaine, maximising profi ts for the drug dealers. Pharmaceutical drugs like benzocaine and lidocaine are cheap over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, costing tens of dollars a kilo.
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Analysis and sample preparation enabling great science Figure 1: ATR spectra of Ketamine, Cocaine and Mephedrone
However, when cut with cocaine, they can be sold for up to $70,000! Figure 3 shows how the pure spectrum of ketamine differs from a sample cut with lidocaine.
easy liquid analysis, fast clean-up
powerful, reliable, robust
Figure 2. ATR spectra of cocaine: pure and cut with benzocaine
practically indestructible & extremely easy to clean
the quality of the product is excellent
Figure 3: ATR spectra of ketamine: pure and cut with lidocaine Conclusions
The Quest ATR was used to test 12 unknown drug samples, in conjunction with GC-MS. 5 of the samples contained cocaine, 6 were primarily ketamine, and 1 was either lactose powder or opium powder.
This note shows that FTIR analysis allows for accurate confi rmatory identifi cation of the various drugs samples and can be used to detect cutting agents.
The ability to identify the samples so easily and effi ciently is extremely benefi cial to developing accurate and fast drug detection.
Acknowledgements 1. Mia Abbott, Jodie Dunnett and Alison Davidson, Staffordshire University. 2. Staffordshire Police
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