Application of ion mobility spectrometry to the rapid screening of methamphetamine incorporated in hair

J Chromatogr B Biomed Sci Appl. 1997 May 9;692(2):319-28. doi: 10.1016/s0378-4347(96)00530-0.

Abstract

Using ion mobility spectrometry (IMS), a simple, sensitive and rapid screening for methamphetamine (MA) incorporated in user's hair has been developed. To completely unbind MA from hair matrix and to achieve its effective vaporization for the IMS detection, the hair sample was digested in 5 M NaOH (methanol-water, 4:1, v/v) solution prior to IMS measurement. MA in hair was semi-quantitatively detected by monitoring the digested hair sample employing dibenzylamine (DBA) as internal standard. The minimum amount of hair sample required was 2 mg and its digested sample was ample for four IMS measurements. The detection limit of MA in hair was 0.5 ng mg(-1). This proposed method was applicable to the semi-quantitative detection of MA in users' hair samples, and to the sectional analysis for MA in a limited amount of user's hair. The IMS results obtained were in good agreement with their GC-MS determination.

MeSH terms

  • Hair / chemistry*
  • Humans
  • Methamphetamine / analysis*
  • Reference Standards
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Spectrum Analysis / methods*
  • Substance Abuse Detection / methods*

Substances

  • Methamphetamine