Chemistry 439

GC/MS for illegal drug identification

Objectives

Learn about mass spectrometry
Learn about molecular fragmentation
Learn to detect illegal drugs in a mixture

GC/MS is one of the most powerful analysis methods used by chemists. Forensic scientists use GC/MS regularly and rely on the data obtained as a definitive answer as to the identity of a substance. If an unknown compound has the same retention time and mass spectrum as a known compound they can be positively identified as being identical.

Standards

There are two standard mixes that you are to run to gain familiarity with the instrument. They are a stimulants mix (Part # 01816) and an opiates mix (Part # 601827) from Alltech. You should try and identify as many of the components that should be present as you can, but note that not every peak that shows up will be one of the components.

Unknowns

After you have run the standards, you will be given two unknown samples. Each is a single drug from one of the mixes. You need to identify each of these unknowns.

Hints

Remember that in Illinois you don't have to quantify or identify each part of a sample; you just need to prove that a drug is present.
There is a reason that people don't smoke cocaine. Knowing this will help you with your opiate parameters.
These samples arrived to us contaminated with some sort of polymer which creates several sharp peaks in the chromatogram. These are not drugs and you don't need to identify them.