NCJ Number
212919
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 51 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2006 Pages: 82-86
Date Published
January 2006
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This paper describes a capillary electrophoresis (CE) method for characterizing phosphate, phosphite, and hypophosphite ions, which is necessary in order to distinguish the various phosphorus-iodine manufacturing methods that are popular for reducing pseudoephedrine to methamphetamine.
Abstract
Using a modified CElixerOA 8.2 protocol, the CE anion analysis method separated acetate, azide, bromide, carbonate, chlorate, chloride, chromate, fluoride, hypophosphite, iodide, nitrate, nitrite, perchlorate, phosphate, phosphite, sulfate, sulfite, and thiocyanate. This procedure is thus useful for the routine forensic analysis of clandestine laboratory evidence when the inorganic characterization of phosphate, phosphite, and hypophosphite may assist the analyst in distinguishing the various methamphetamine manufacturing methods. The CElixerOA 8.2 dynamic coating system was modified by lowering the capillary temperature to 15 degrees centigrade and using an acid flush between runs to remove adsorbed materials. This allows the detection of ions down to between 10 and 30 parts per million with percent relative standard deviations of normalized migration times under 0.1 percent. The description of materials and methods used provides details on chemicals used, the instrumentation, sample preparation, and run conditions. The discussion of results focuses on temperature, column length, and run voltage; phosphate peak shape effects; recommended conditioning; the limit of detection; migration-time reproducibility; limitations; and applications. 1 table, 3 figures, and 29 references