METHODS FOR
IMPURITY PROFILING OF
HEROIN AND COCAINE
MANUAL FOR USE BY NATIONAL DRUG TESTING LABORATORIES
V
T
METHODS FOR IMPURITY PROFILING OF
HEROIN AND COCAINE
MANUAL FOR USE BY NATIONAL DRUG TESTING LABORATORIES
Laboratory and Scientific Section
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
Vienna
UNITED NATIONS
New York, 2005
Note
Operating and experimental conditions are reproduced from the original reference
materials. A number of alternative conditions and substitution of named commer-
cial products may provide comparable results in many cases.
Mention of names of firms and commercial products does not imply the
endorsement of the United Nations.
ST/NAR/35
UNITED NATIONS PUBLICATION
Sales No. E.05.XI.14
ISBN 92-1-148206-2
Acknowledgements
The Laboratory and Scientific Section of the United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime (UNODC) wishes to express its thanks to the following experts who par-
ticipated in the Consultative Meeting on Recommended Methods for the Impurity
Profiling of Heroin and Cocaine, organized by UNODC, in collaboration with the
Australian Government Analytical Laboratories, in Sydney, Australia, from 8 to
12 November 1999, for their contribution to the contents of the present manual:
Mr. Olivier Guéniat, Police de sûreté, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Mr. Adrian V. Kemmenoe, Forensic Science Service (FSS), Birmingham
Laboratory, Birmingham, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland
Mr. Helmut Neumann, Kriminaltechnisches Institut, Bundeskriminalamt
(BKA), Wiesbaden,
Germany
Ms. Jana Skopec,* Australian Government Analytical Laboratories (AGAL),
Pymble, New South Wales, Australia
Mr. James Wong, Bureau of Drug Analysis Services (BDAS), Health Canada,
Western Region Health Protection Branch, Burnaby, British Columbia,
Canada
The Laboratory and Scientific Section also wishes to express its thanks to
Mr. Don Cooper and Mr. Helmut Neumann for reviewing, updating and finaliz-
ing the manuscript, also using additional contributions from the participants.**
iii
*Now with Agrifor Scientific Pty Ltd., Australia.
**Contact details of named individuals can be requested from the UNODC Laboratory and Scientific
Section (P.O. Box 500, 1400 Vienna, Austria).
Contents
page
I.
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1
A.
Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
B.
Purpose of the manual. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
C.
Use of the manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
II.
Aspects of drug characterization and impurity profiling . . . . . . . . . .
5
A.
Background, concepts, purpose and strategies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
B.
Analytical implications of heroin and cocaine manufacture
and supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1. Determination of origin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2. Establishing trafficking and distribution networks . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
C.
Types and investigational value of sample components . . . . . . . . . 10
1. Major components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2. Trace components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3. Residual and/or occluded solvents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
III.
Methods for impurity profiling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
A.
General comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
B.
Heroin methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1. Hydrolysis of heroin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2. Methods for the determination of major components . . . . . . . . 16
3. Methods for the determination of trace components . . . . . . . . . 25
4. Residual solvent analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
5. Additional methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
C.
Cocaine methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
1. Methods for the determination of major components. . . . . . . . . 36
2. Methods for the determination of trace components . . . . . . . . . 39
3. Residual solvent analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
4. Additional methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
IV.
Data handling, interpretation of results and approach to setting
up profiling data collections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
47
A.
Data handling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
B.
Interpretation of results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
C.
Approach to setting up profiling data collections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
v
4. Trace elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
5. Isotopic abundance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12