Quantitative evaluation of 28 mineral elements by inductively coupled plasma/mass spectrometry and its application in source identification of Indian opium

An analytical method based on inductively coupled plasma/mass spectrometry (ICP/MS) was developed for the determination of 28 mineral elements (Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Sr, Cd, Ag, Ba, Pb, Bi Y, La, Ce, Nd, Pr, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, and Lu) in Indian opium samples. The detection limits were found to be in the range of 0.0008-0.45 ng/mL. The recoveries of spiked samples for each element were found to be in the range of 83-106%, with a precision of less than 9%. A total of 124 opium samples from India were analyzed for the distribution pattern of the 28 mineral elements. Quantitative elemental data were subjected to chemometric analysis in order to determine an optimal classifier to evaluate the source of Indian opium. The study indicated that mineral elements might not be the suitable discriminators for the discrimination of licit opium-growing divisions of India. However, the methodology developed and the analytical data on elemental profile may find important forensic application in discriminating Indian opium with that of licit and illicit opium originating from different geographical regions of world.