Advanced micro-scale procedures for extraction of diacetylmorphine from post-mortem blood samples

Drug abuse is minacious for the society. Among the various drugs encountered in drug abuse cases, use of diacetylmorphine is the most prevalent. Its accurate identification plays a pivotal role in field of forensic toxicology. Application of liquid- liquid extraction methods for isolation of diacetylmorphine using ethyl acetate, methanol, chloroform, diethyl ether, hexane, etc., has been pronounced previously. The cardinal objective behind this research work was formulation of a methodology for quick and rapid extraction of diacetylmorphine at microscale levels by utilising lesser amount of chemicals promoting green chemistry. In the current method, Acetone, Acetonitrile and Ethyl Acetate were used for direct extraction from postmortem blood without any kind of sample pre-treatment. The final extracts on subjecting to Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy analysis showed improved results with newly developed methods. This methodology, being rapid and reliable, will aid the forensic scientist in analysing larger number of exhibits with reliability in small time period using less quantity of chemical reagents; thus, making them more environment- friendly, heading towards green chemistry.