Citation

Briglia EJ, Davis PL, Katz M, Dal Cortivo LA. J. Forensic Sci. 1990; 35(6): 1468-1476.

Affiliation

Division of Medical-Legal Investigations and Forensic Sciences, County of Suffolk, Hauppauge, NY.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1990, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

2262781

Abstract

A nurse was accused of attempting to murder her anesthesiologist husband on two occasions by administering to him a neuromuscular blocking agent. In both episodes, urine specimens were obtained from the victim shortly after the suspected assaults. The samples were initially tested fluorometrically using Rose Bengal dye as a pairing agent. Both were presumptively positive for pancuronium. Confirmation of these results was achieved by pairing the drug with potassium iodide, extracting the complex, and submitting the extract to thin-layer chromatography (TLC) cleanup, elution at the appropriate retardation factor (Rf), and, finally, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis in the selected-ion monitoring mode. The two quaternary amines of pancuronium appear to undergo pyrolytic N-demethylation in the injection port to yield an entity amenable to capillary column gas chromatography. The mass spectrum of the compound consists of a base peak of m/z 322, with additional fragments of 292, 323, 338, and 397 m/z, each of which was monitored. The confirmed positive findings were instrumental in adjudicating the case.

Language: en