The analysis of cations and anions in illicit heroin using capillary electrophoresis with indirect UV detection.

Methodology is presented for the analysis of cations and anions in illicit heroin using CE with indirect UV detection. The cations investigated include ammonium, calcium, potassium, magnesium, and sodium; the anions included acetate, chloride, citrate, phosphate, sulfate, and tartrate. For cations, the Ion Phor run buffer (Dionex Corp., Sunnyvale, CA, U.S.A.) consisting of 4 mM copper sulfate, 4 mM formic acid, and 3 mM 18-crown-6 (pH 3.0) was used. For anions, proprietary reagents were used, including the Anitron run buffer (PE Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, U.S.A.) and Micro-Coat capillary charge-reversal agent (PE Applied Biosystems), which was utilized to flush the capillary prior to each analysis. Lithium nitrate was used as an internal standard; excellent long- and short-term precision in relative retention times were obtained for both cations and anions. The short-term precision in peak areas was satisfactory. For the various ions examined, a linearity range of a little less than two orders of magnitude was observed. The methodology is capable of analyzing ions down to the 10(-3)% level relative to heroin.