The use of supercritical fluid extraction for the determination of amphetamines in hair

A laboratory study interested in the analysis of human hair for drugs-of-ab use was conducted to determine if drugs could be detected and quantified fr om hair. Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) techniques followed by GC-MS analysis were applied to extract amphetamines from hair. The group of amphe tamines included methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), methylenedioxymetamphetam ine (MDMA), methylenedioxyethylamphetamine (MDEA) and internal standard mep hentermine (MP). To validate information on amphetamine use in hair, powder ed hair samples free from drugs were collected and soaked in a known amphet amine standard solution. Authentic fortified case hair samples taken from k nown drug users known to have consumed amphetamines were also analyzed for amphetamine. Results from this study show that amphetamine use can be detec ted in spiked and authentic fortified human hair using SFE techniques for q ualitative and quantitative reproducible results. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.