DOCUMENTATION OF A DOXYLAMINE OVERDOSE DEATH - QUANTITATION BY STANDARD ADDITION AND USE OF 3 INSTRUMENTAL TECHNIQUES

To answer the question. ''Is this death due to a drug overdose?'' requ ires at least that the drug be unequivocally identified and a blood co ncentration reliably determined. The approach taken in this case as st andard addition technique and use of three different chromatographic t echniques-high performance liquid chromatograpby (HPLC), high performa nce thin-layer chromatography (HP-TLC) and gas chromatography/mass spe ctrometry (GC/MS). Each of the chromatographies was carried out on the same extract by splitting the residue three ways. HPLC provided a qua ntitative result which was 1.2 mg/L in blood and HP-TLC and GC/MS conf irmed this result with additional quantitative data, information about two metabolites (nordoxylamine and dinordoxylamine) and conclusive id entification. Blood nordoxylamine was 0.52 mg/L and doxylamine plus me tabolites in urine was 25 mg/L.