Fatal intoxication due to dothiepin

An ingestion of an unknown quantity of Harmomed(R) (dothiepin and diazepam) capsules in a suicide is described. The authors report a new and fast meth od of analysing and determining the dothiepin concentration in postmortem s pecimens. Quantitation of dothiepin, and its metabolite desmethyldothiepin was performed by ethyl acetate extraction from alkalinized body fluids befo re GC-MS analysis. The analyses were performed without any complex sample c lean-up steps and with little sample material. Postmortem concentrations of dothiepin, desmethyldothiepin, diazepam and desmethyldiazepam in body flui ds are given. The proposed method is a rapid procedure for analysis in case s of deliberate poisoning with the antidepressant drug dothiepin. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.