Journal de recherche médico-légale

Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Forensic Drug Flunitrazepam upon Exposure to UV Irradiation

Abstract

Lindsay Sampson, Brandon Wilson and Harvey JM Hou

The environment may affect the forensic drug evidences in crime scene and is able to produce impurities, which contain vital information for tracing their origin of manufacture and can be used to provide link in crime scene investigation. In this work the response of forensic drug flunitrazepam to the UV irradiation was investigated by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. We found the substantial change in GC pattern involving multiple GC peaks, indicating the complex reaction of degradation in flunitrazepam upon UV irradiation. GCMS analysis identified one of the GC components to be amino-flunitrazepam. The new GC peaks and the GC pattern change may serve as “chemical signatures” of flunitrazepam. Such information may promote the identification of the forensic drug flunitrazepam as a “chemical fingerprint” in forensic sciences.