THE ANATOMY OF A COCAINE COMPARISON CASE - A PROSECUTORIAL AND CHEMISTRY PERSPECTIVE

Methodology used for the comparative chemical analyses of two illicit cocaine seizures, and its application in a successful criminal prosecu tion, is described. A description of events leading to the arrest of t he defendant and an overview of the jury trial are provided. Illicit c ocaine, found in the defendant's suitcase and wallet, was subjected to chemical derivatization and three distinct gas chromatographic method s for the detection and relative quantitation of cocaine manufacturing impurities/by-products. The cocaine impurities included cis- and tran s-cinnamoylcocaine, the isomeric truxillines and the hydroxycocaines. Among the cocaine manufacturing byproducts detected were benzoylecgoni ne, ecgonine methyl ester, ecgonine, N-benzoylnorecgonine methyl eater and N-norcocaine. Chemical derivatization of the cocaine samples was accomplished using heptafluorobutyric anhydride and N,O-bis(trimethyls ilyl)acetamide. The derivatized impurities/by-products were subjected to capillary gas chromatographic analysis using both flame ionization and electron-capture detectors. The comparative chemical analyses prov ided a positive correlation between the suitcase and wallet cocaine sa mples.