A Thermal-Desorption Surface-Ionization Indicator of Narcotics and Other Drug Preparations

The results of the development of a new method and instrument for determining trace narcotics and other abused drugs in extracts of biological samples (urine, blood, and postmortem specimens) from users of the above substances are reported. The method is based on the unique selectivity (up to 10⁵–10⁸ with respect to organic solvents or up to 10¹⁰ with respect to simple gases) and high efficiency of the surface ionization of nitrogen-containing organic bases and on the use of the temperature-programmed evaporation of sample molecules from an evaporator to the surface of an ionizer (emitter). This method provides not only the detection of trace substances (for example, opiates and amitriptyline at a picogram level) but also their identification based on the most probable evaporation temperature.