Citation

Liu C, Hua Z, Bai Y. J. Forensic Sci. 2016; 61(6): 1615-1621.

Affiliation

National Narcotics Laboratory, Drug Intelligence and Forensic Center of the Ministry of Public Security, Beijing, 100193, China.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/1556-4029.13190

PMID

27662080

Abstract

Opium is the raw material for the production of heroin, and the characterization of opium seizures through laboratory analysis is a valuable tool for law enforcement agencies to trace clandestine opium production and trafficking. In this work, a method for opium profiling based on the relative content of five principal and 14 minor opium alkaloids was developed and validated. UPLC-Q-TOF was adopted in alkaloid analysis for its high selectivity and sensitivity, which facilitated the sample preparation and testing. The authentic sample set consisted of 100 "Myanmar" and 45 "Afghanistan" opium seizures; based on the data set of the 19 alkaloid variables in them, a partial least squares discriminant analysis classification model was successfully achieved. Minor alkaloids were found to be vitally important for opium profiling, although combined use of both principal and minor alkaloids resulted in the best geographical classification result. The developed method realized a simple and accurate way to differentiate opium from Myanmar and Afghanistan, which may find wide application in forensic laboratories.

© 2016 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Language: en