Comparison of phenyl-type columns in the development of a fast liquid chromatographic system for eighteen opiates commonly found in forensic toxicology

We report a precise and reliable method for the detection of 18 of the most commonly found opiates on the Belgian legal and illicit market, by ion-exc hange, reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography, using a conve ntional phenyl-type analytical column (150X4.6 mm I.D., particle size 5 mum ) and diode-array detection. We also describe a performance (efficiency and sensitivity) comparison of this column to a recently developed "high-speed " column (53X7.0 mm I.D., particle size 3 mum) packed with the same station ary phase, and used under slightly adjusted how and gradient conditions. Th e final method, using the "high-speed" column, showed a significant reducti on (55%) in analysis time without loss of resolution and sensitivity. (C) 2 000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.