IDENTIFICATION OF DRUGS BY HIGH-PRESSURE LIQUID-CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH DUAL WAVELENGTH ULTRAVIOLET DETECTION

Using three solvent-column systems, 101 drugs of forensic interest were characterized by their high-pressure liquid chromatographic relative retention times and by the ratio of their absorbances at 254 and 280 nm. Using relative retention times alone, only 9% of the drugs could be distinguished; while when both the retention times and absorbance ratios were used, 95% of the drugs could be distinguished. The compounds were also characterized by comparisons of their retention times on an adsorption column and a reversed-phase column, however this pair of discriminators were less useful than the former techniques. © 1979.