A Review of Recent Advances in Impurity Profiling of Illicit MDMA Samples
Journal of Forensic Sciences October 18, 2007 Ruth Smith 38 citations
Profiling the impurities in illicit ecstasy tablets can help law enforcement identify the synthesis method used to make MDMA, link tablets to a common manufacturer or production batch, and disrupt drug trafficking. Current techniques typically extract organic impurities for analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Recent work has begun exploring trace metal profiling and applying more robust statistical and chemometric methods to compare tablets. This review covers advances in MDMA impurity profiling from 2002 to the end of 2006, noting that the full potential of profiling as a tool against drug trafficking has not yet been realized.