Impurity Profiling Analysis of Illicit Methamphetamine Seized in Korea

우리나라에서 불법 유통되는 메스암페타민의 불순물 프로화일 분석

Impurity profiling analysis of methamphetamine seized in Korea was investigated for the evidential and intelligent purpose. Samples were extracted with ethylacetate which contai ns internal standard of dioctylsebacate under basic condition and extracts were analyzed by GC-FID. Ephedrine, chloroephedrine & 1,2-dimethyl-3-phenylaziridine were identified impurities in illicit methamphetamine by GC-MS. These impurities revealed that most of abused methamphetamine in Korea were synthesized from ephedrine as a starting material. For the classification of samples. firstly, 24 impurity peaks were selected after inspection of every peak in 50 samples as the specific markers of impurities. Secondly, corresponding peak retention time and area ratio to the internal standard were calculated and database was created with values of 24 peaks by in-house program. Finally, cluster analysis was attempted with the resultant profiles using the STAR plot, which was based on the Euclidian distance for evaluating similarity among samples. A total of 76 samples were divided into 8 different groups within 90% statistical similarity and inter-batch samples showed similar impurity patterns by this procedure. In conclusion, the analysis of impurities is a suitable index for estimation the common or different origin of methamphetamine sample.