ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the more developments in the identification and detection of psychoactive drugs. It focuses on identification from biological material, thus eliminating serious consideration of the hallucinogenic and cannabis class of compounds. A general method for the extraction of narcotic drugs from biological materials usually involves precipitation of the free base from aqueous solution and subsequent partitioning into an organic solvent. Utilization of ultraviolet spectrophotometry for the detection of psychosedatives was almost totally ineffective with regard to extracts of these compounds from biological material. Gas-Liquid Chromatography (GLC) has provided important advancements in the detection and identification of barbiturates as described in two excellent reviews. Methods for analyzing a wide variety of psychosedative drugs by GLC have been developed with direct applicability to biological materials. Thin-layer chromatography has been used widely for the detection of barbiturates, their metabolites, and other organic acids.
