Prev. Article Next Article Table of Contents

Article

Presumptive and Confirmatory Drug Tests

Your current credentials do not allow retrieval of the full text.

Purchase the full-text

PDF/HTML,
figures/images,
references and tables,
(where available)

Craig Anderson

Department of Chemistry, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504

J. Chem. Educ., 2005, 82 (12), p 1809

DOI: 10.1021/ed082p1809

Publication Date (Web): December 1, 2005

Section:

History, Education, and Documentation

Abstract

Tests for illegal drugs were performed on unknown, white powder substances obtained from over-the-counter cold medicines such as Sudafed and Contac. Both presumptive tests and confirmatory tests were conducted. It was shown that substances that tested positive for the qualitative Marquis color test were found to be false positives for illegal substances such as heroin or methamphetamine when samples were subjected to GC–MS analysis. The samples that contained dextromethorphan hydrobromide or pseudoephedrine hydrochloride were first extracted from the white powders as free base amines. Scopolamine hydrochloride, the identification of which can be confirmed by infrared spectroscopy, shows a false positive for cocaine hydrochloride with the cobalt thiocyanate reagent.

Keywords (Audience):

First-Year Undergraduate / General

Keywords (Domain):

Laboratory Instruction

Keywords (Pedagogy):

Hands-On Learning / Manipulatives

Keywords (Subject):

Drugs / Pharmaceuticals

View: Hi-Res PDF | PDF w/ Links

Citing Articles

View all 3 citing articles

Citation data is made available by participants in CrossRef's Cited-by Linking service. For a more comprehensive list of citations to this article, users are encouraged to perform a search in SciFinder.

This article has been cited by 3 ACS Journal articles (3 most recent appear below).

Analysis of a Suspected Drug Sample
Eric J. Schurter, Lois Anne Zook-Gerdau, and Paul Szalay
Journal of Chemical Education2011 Article ASAP
- Analysis of a Suspected Drug Sample
  Eric J. Schurter, Lois Anne Zook-Gerdau, and Paul Szalay
  Journal of Chemical Education2011 Article ASAP
  This general chemistry laboratory uses differences in solubility to separate a mixture of caffeine and aspirin while introducing the instrumental analysis methods of GCMS and FTIR. The drug mixture is separated by partitioning aspirin and caffeine between ...
  Abstract | Full Text HTML | Hi-Res PDF | PDF w/ Links
A Multi-Technique Forensic Experiment for a Nonscience-Major Chemistry Course
Paul S. Szalay, Lois Anne Zook-Gerdau, and Eric J. Schurter
Journal of Chemical Education2011 Article ASAP
- A Multi-Technique Forensic Experiment for a Nonscience-Major Chemistry Course
  Paul S. Szalay, Lois Anne Zook-Gerdau, and Eric J. Schurter
  Journal of Chemical Education2011 Article ASAP
  This multi-technique experiment with a forensic theme was developed for a nonscience-major chemistry course. The students are provided with solid samples and informed that the samples are either cocaine or a combination of drugs designed to mimic the ...
  Abstract | Full Text HTML | Hi-Res PDF | PDF w/ Links
Using Laboratory Chemicals To Imitate Illicit Drugs in a Forensic Chemistry Activity
Shawn Hasan , Deborah Bromfield-Lee , Maria T. Oliver-Hoyo and Jose A. Cintron-Maldonado
Journal of Chemical Education2008 85 (6), 813
- Using Laboratory Chemicals To Imitate Illicit Drugs in a Forensic Chemistry Activity
  Shawn Hasan , Deborah Bromfield-Lee , Maria T. Oliver-Hoyo and Jose A. Cintron-Maldonado
  Journal of Chemical Education2008 85 (6), 813
  This forensic chemistry activity utilizes presumptive forensic testing procedures and laboratory chemicals that produce screening results similar to controlled substances. For obvious reasons, obtaining heavily regulated controlled substances to create an ...
  Abstract | Hi-Res PDF | PDF w/ Links