Effect of UV irradiation on detection of cocaine hydrochloride and crack vapors by IMIS and API-MS methods

Detection of drug vapors and volatile products of their decomposition is an important, and sometimes the only way to determine the presence of illegal drug traces at the surface of mail items, documents, hands and banknotes. This paper gives the results of experimental studies on the effect of UV irradiation on the sensitivity of a vapor phase detection of cocaine of different origin by a technology of ion mobility increment spectrometry (IMIS). It is shown that the influence of UV irradiation on the surface of cocaine hydrochloride and crack increases the amplitude of IMIS signals by about eight times. We analyzed ions emerged by photolysis of tested cocaine samples using mass-spectrometry with atmospheric pressure ionization (API-MS). The assumption is made about structural formula of volatile products of photolysis of crack and cocaine hydrochloride. By the results of API-MS and IMIS studies on photolysis of cocaine samples it is assumed that compound C₁₀H₁₅NO₃ with a molecular weight of 197 amu and ecgonidine methyl ester with a molecular weight of 181 amu are responsible for the increase of an amplitude of IMIS signals upon UV irradiation of samples of crack and cocaine hydrochloride.