Chemical profiling clandestine methamphetamine

CHED 104

Sri Bharat Madireddy, SBmadiredd21@tntech.edu and Jeffrey O. Boles, jboles@tntech.edu. Department of Chemistry, Tennessee Technological University, 55 University Dr, Cookeville, TN 38505
Over the years Methamphetamine (N-methyl-1-phenylpropan-2-amine), a potent psycho-stimulant, has been a major cause of concern throughout the world, especially in the State of Tennessee. Illicit manufacture of methamphetamine in clandestine laboratories has been carried-out with the use of minimal over-the-counter ingredients. In order to positively identify the cook of this drug, a signature profile of seized methamphetamine is necessary. The first choice of tools in designing a “chemical profile” or “chemical fingerprint” for clandestine drugs is GC/MS. Minimal work has been carried out on seized samples of methamphetamine using LC/MS. LC, in combination with MS/MS has advantages over GC, such as sensitivity. The present research will compare seized samples with an in-house database. Results will show that such chemical fingerprinting can result in positive identification of an over-the-counter or clandestine drug as well as the method of synthesis utilized to produce clandestine methamphetamine. This technique can be applied to pharmaceuticals such as Sudafed (Phizer, Inc.) in chemical education.
 

General Posters
7:30 PM-9:30 PM, Sunday, April 6, 2008 Morial Convention Center -- Hall A, Poster

Division of Chemical Education

The 235th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 6-10, 2008