The paper reports the case of a heroin addict who was found dead at his home with a fresh puncture mark on his leftarm. The GC-MS analysis of post-mortem blood and of the content of the syringe found next the body showed the presence of heroin and methorphan, probably used as adulterant of heroin. However GC-MS method was not able to distinguish between the two methorphan enantiomers, which show different pharmacological activity. To solve this problem, a chiral method based on the use of capillary electrophoresis with cyclodextrins was developed. The method was successfully applied to the analysis of the postmortem blood identifying the presence of dextromethorphan at a concentration of 842 ng/mL.
Dextromethorphan/levomethorphan issues in a case of opiate overdose.
BORTOLOTTI, Federica;BERTASO, Anna;GOTTARDO, Rossella;Musile, Giacomo;TAGLIARO, Franco
2013-01-01
Abstract
The paper reports the case of a heroin addict who was found dead at his home with a fresh puncture mark on his leftarm. The GC-MS analysis of post-mortem blood and of the content of the syringe found next the body showed the presence of heroin and methorphan, probably used as adulterant of heroin. However GC-MS method was not able to distinguish between the two methorphan enantiomers, which show different pharmacological activity. To solve this problem, a chiral method based on the use of capillary electrophoresis with cyclodextrins was developed. The method was successfully applied to the analysis of the postmortem blood identifying the presence of dextromethorphan at a concentration of 842 ng/mL.
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