BothGasChromatography (GC) andHighPerformance Liquid
Chromatography (HPLC) can be used to identify cocaine adulterants such as
sugars, anesthetics, analgesics and stimulants. Several different detection
systems can beused to obtain identification and quantitative information.
Gas chromatography is themost common analytical technique used for the
analysis of all of the adulterants found in cocainewithexception of sugars.
Although sugars can be derivatized for analysis byGC, they aremore easily
detected usingHPLC.
Detection of adulterants found in cocaine after separation byGCcan be
performed usingFID (Flame IonizationDetection), NPD (NitrogenPhosphorus
Detection) andMS (MassSpectrometry) detectors. AlthoughFID andNPD
provide good sensitivity for identifying and quantitating adulterants found in
cocaine (seeChromatogram #1), GC/MS is themost widely accepteddetection
method. GC/MS data is not only very sensitive, but also provides positive
identification of the adulterants based onmass spectral information. MS data
can be usedas confirming evidence ina court of law.
