title: The analysis of cations and anions in illicit heroin using capillary electrophoresis with indirect UV detection.
abstract: Methodology is presented for the analysis of cations and anions in illicit heroin using CE with indirect UV detection. The cations investigated include ammonium, calcium, potassium, magnesium, and sodium; the anions included acetate, chloride, citrate, phosphate, sulfate, and tartrate. For cations, the Ion Phor run buffer (Dionex Corp., Sunnyvale, CA, U.S.A.) consisting of 4 mM copper sulfate, 4 mM formic acid, and 3 mM 18-crown-6 (pH 3.0) was used. For anions, proprietary reagents were used, including the Anitron run buffer (PE Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, U.S.A.) and Micro-Coat capillary charge-reversal agent (PE Applied Biosystems), which was utilized to flush the capillary prior to each analysis. Lithium nitrate was used as an internal standard; excellent long- and short-term precision in relative retention times were obtained for both cations and anions. The short-term precision in peak areas was satisfactory. For the various ions examined, a linearity range of a little less than two orders of magnitude was observed. The methodology is capable of analyzing ions down to the 10(-3)% level relative to heroin.
authors.affiliation: U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Special Testing and Research Laboratory, McLean, VA 22102-3494, USA.
authors.forename: I S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Lurie
mesh_terms: D000838:Anions / Q000032:analysis*; D002412:Cations / Q000032:analysis*; D019075:Electrophoresis, Capillary / Q000379:methods*; D003932:Heroin / Q000737:chemistry*; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000737:chemistry*; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D000838:Anions; D002412:Cations; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D007202:Indicators and Reagents; D003932:Heroin