ANALYSIS OF DRUG SEIZURES OF HEROIN AND AMPHETAMINE BY CAPILLARY ELECTROPHORESIS

Capillary electrophoresis has been used to separate heroin and ampheta mine from structurally related compounds and commonly occurring adulte rants in drug seizures. The method was based on micellar electrokineti c chromatography with a running buffer of pH 9.0 containing sodium dod ecyl sulphate as surfactant and acetonitrile as organic modifier. The drugs were dissolved in running buffer containing crystal violet. Crys tal violet was used to calculate relative migration times for drug ide ntification and as internal standard for quantitative analysis. Both q ualitative and quantitative analysis was shown to be reproducible. Bec ause of the speed and resolving power of the method it is a powerful a lternative to the high-performance liquid chromatographic and gas chro matographic methods in current use for the analysis of illicit drugs.