UNEQUIVOCAL IDENTIFICATION OF SEVERAL COMMON ADULTERANTS AND DILUENTS IN STREET SAMPLES OF COCAINE BY INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY

This paper describes an improved method for the direct identification of adulterants and diluents in street samples of cocaine using infrared spectroscopy. The proposed method requires a versatile software package designed for handling infrared data on a personal computer. The spectra of the mixtures of cocaine.HCl and several common adulterants (caffeine, procaine.HCl, lidocaine.HCl and piracetam) and diluents (glucose, lactose, sucrose, starch and mannitol) were recorded. Two regions were chosen in the infrared spectra: 1800–1500 cm−1, which includes all the assayed adulterants, and 960–860 cm−1, for sugars and polyalcohols. The display of the different spectra through the computerized program allowed the identification of the above mentioned substances even at 5% concentration.

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