DETECTION OF DESIGNER DRUGS IN HUMAN HAIR BY ION MOBILITY SPECTROMETRY (IMS)

Since its inception in the early 1970s under the name plasma chromatog raphy, ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) has undergone great changes. It is now utilized more and more in forensic science laboratories where it is used to detect explosives and environmental pollutants [1-4] as well as its use in detecting drugs of abuse [5-8]. Although IMS is kno wn for nearly 30 years now [9], relatively few cases of the applicatio n of ion mobility spectrometry to the analysis of human hair have been reported [10-12]. The authors report a new and quick method to rapidl y screen and determine MDMA ('ecstasy', 'Adam') and MDEA ('Eve') in hu man hair. The proposed method using trihexylamine as internal standard resulted in a rapid procedure useful in screening human hair specimen s for designer drugs. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All right s reserved.