Designing An Undergraduate Forensic Chemistry Experiment on the Levels of Amphetamine in Urine Using Two Different Methods
Faculty Mentor(s) Name(s)
Wathsala Medawala
Abstract
Amphetamine is used to stimulate the central nervous system in patients with ADD/ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). This drug is widely abused, including 11.1% of all college students according to recent data¹. The aim of this experiment was to design a forensic lab on the identification and the determination of amphetamine levels in urine samples. In forensic labs, preliminary and confirmatory tests are used to identify unknown substances. For the preliminary test, amphetamine was analyzed in synthetic urine samples through an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA kit) that is commercially available and is widely used to qualitatively analyze amphetamine in biological samples. The absorbance values were obtained with a microplate spectrophotometer. The ELISA kit results were mainly qualitative, and unreliable at lower concentrations. The confirmatory aspect of the experiment involved the use of Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry for better quantification. Amphetamine was extracted from urine using solid-phase extraction and then evaluated using the GC-MS. The quantitative results were analyzed for both the preliminary test and the confirmatory test. The preliminary and confirmatory tests can be used in a forensic science teaching lab. The experimental procedures and results obtained using the two methods will be discussed in the following presentation.
Start Date
27-3-2024 9:00 AM
End Date
27-3-2024 9:50 AM
Location
Magnolia Ballroom
Designing An Undergraduate Forensic Chemistry Experiment on the Levels of Amphetamine in Urine Using Two Different Methods
Magnolia Ballroom
Amphetamine is used to stimulate the central nervous system in patients with ADD/ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). This drug is widely abused, including 11.1% of all college students according to recent data¹. The aim of this experiment was to design a forensic lab on the identification and the determination of amphetamine levels in urine samples. In forensic labs, preliminary and confirmatory tests are used to identify unknown substances. For the preliminary test, amphetamine was analyzed in synthetic urine samples through an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA kit) that is commercially available and is widely used to qualitatively analyze amphetamine in biological samples. The absorbance values were obtained with a microplate spectrophotometer. The ELISA kit results were mainly qualitative, and unreliable at lower concentrations. The confirmatory aspect of the experiment involved the use of Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry for better quantification. Amphetamine was extracted from urine using solid-phase extraction and then evaluated using the GC-MS. The quantitative results were analyzed for both the preliminary test and the confirmatory test. The preliminary and confirmatory tests can be used in a forensic science teaching lab. The experimental procedures and results obtained using the two methods will be discussed in the following presentation.