ANALYSIS OF FORENSIC SAMPLES USING PRECOLUMN DERIVATIZATION WITH (-1-(9-FLUORENYL)ETHYL CHLOROFORMATE AND LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH FLUOROMETRIC DETECTION())

An indirect chiral separation of forensic methamphetamine samples by l iquid chromatography with fluorescence detection was developed. Carbam ate derivatives of the methamphethamine enantiomers were formed by usi ng (+)-1-(9-fluorenyl)ethyl chloroformate. The response appeared to be linear from 16.7 to 1674.0 ng/ml (r=0.9999) for each enantiomer. The relative standard deviations in the within-day and between-day assays for (S)-(+)-methamphetamine and (R)-(-)-methamphetamine are reported. As the developed procedure can also be used to determine ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, it will provide valuable information concerning the method of synthesis and the purity of the product.