Comparative study of the analysis of seized samples by GC-MS, 1H NMR and FT-IR spectroscopy within a Night-Time Economy (NTE) setting

Dixon DI, Antonides L, Costello A, Crane B, Embleton A, Fletcher ML, Gilbert N, Hulme MC, James MJ, Lever MA, Maccallum CJ, Millea MF, Pimlott JL, Robertson TBR, Rudge NE, Schofield CJ, Zukowicz F, Kemsley K, Sutcliffe OB, Mewis RE. (2022)

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis, 219

Rapid analysis of surrendered or seized drug samples provides important intelligence for health (e.g. treatment or harm reduction), and custodial services. Herein, three techniques, GC-MS, ¹H NMR and FT-IR spectroscopy, with searchable libraries, are used to analyse 318 samples qualitatively, using technique specific library-based searches, obtained over the period 24^th 29^th August 2019. 259 samples were identified as consisting of a single component, of which cocaine was the most prevalent (n = 158). Median match scores for all three techniques were =0.84 and showed agreement except for metformin (not identified by GC-MS (n = 1)), oxandrolone (identified as vitamin K by IR (n = 4)), diazepam (identified as zolpidem by IR (n = 2)) and 2C-B (identified as cardboard by FT-IR and not identified by ¹H NMR). 51 samples were found to consist of two or more components, of which 49 were adulterated cocaine samples (45 binary and 4 tertiary samples). GC-MS identified all components present in the 49 adulterated cocaine samples, whereas IR identified only cocaine in 88% of cases (adulterant only = 12%). The breakdown for ¹H NMR spectroscopy was: all components identified (51%), cocaine only (33%), adulterant only (10%), cocaine and one adulterant (tertiary mixtures only, 6%).

Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis, 219

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