Pyrolysis and volatilization of cocaine
- Virginia Commonwealth Univ., Richmond (USA)
The increasing popularity of inhaling cocaine vapor prompted the present study, to determine cocaine's fate during this process. The free base of (3H)cocaine (1 microCi/50 mg) was added to a glass pipe, which was then heated in a furnace to simulate freebasing. Negative pressure was used to draw the vapor through a series of glass wool, ethanol, acidic, and basic traps. Air flow rate and temperature were found to have profound effects on the volatilization and pyrolysis of cocaine. At a temperature of 260 degrees C and a flow rate of 400 mL/min, 37% of the radioactivity remained in the pipe, 39% was found in the glass wool trap, and less than 1% in the remainder of the volatilization apparatus after a 10-min volatilization. Reducing the air flow rate to 100 mL/min reduced the amount of radioactivity collected in the glass wool trap to less than 10% of the starting material and increased the amount that remained in the pipe to 58%. GC/MS analysis of the contents of the glass wool trap after volatilization at 260 degrees C and a flow rate of 400 mL/min revealed that 60% of the cocaine remained intact, while approximately 6 and 2% of the starting material was recovered as benzoic acid and methylecgonidine, respectively. As the temperature was increased to 650 degrees C, benzoic acid and methylecgonidine accounted for 83 and 89% of the starting material, respectively, whereas only 2% of the cocaine remained intact. Quantitation of cocaine in the vapor during the course of volatilization revealed high concentrations during the first two min and low concentrations for the remaining time.
- OSTI ID:
- 5673468
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Analytical Toxicology; (USA), Vol. 13:3; ISSN 0146-4760
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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