title: Profiling of impurities in heroin by capillary electrochromatography and laser-induced fluorescence detection.
abstract: Capillary electrochromatography (CEC) with laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detection was investigated for the analysis of acidic and neutral impurities in heroin. The phenanthrene-like heroin impurities exhibit high native fluorescence when excited with a doubled argon ion laser (operating at 257 nm). The limit of detection for acetylthebaol is 66 pg ml(-1). CEC-LIF analysis of heroin samples of different geographical origin gave distinguishable peak-enriched chromatograms. A sulfonic acid C12 polymer monolith column provided similar resolving power to a 1.5 mm non-porous ODS column for the isocratic analysis of a refined heroin sample. Analysis of a crude heroin sample via a multi-step gradient CEC resolved a significantly higher number of peaks than gradient high-performance liquid chromatography or micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography.
authors.affiliation: US Drug Enforcement Administration, Special Testing and Research Laboratory, Chantilly, VA 20151, USA.
authors.forename: I S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Lurie
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Anex
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fintschenko
authors.forename: W Y
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Choi
mesh_terms: D020374:Chromatography, Micellar Electrokinetic Capillary / Q000379:methods*; D004340:Drug Contamination; D003932:Heroin / Q000737:chemistry*; D007834:Lasers; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D003932:Heroin