Major problems associated with the screening of body fluids for drugs of abuse include the relatively low speed of analysis and the often poor reliability of the data. Capillary gas chromatography is acknowledged to be superior in performance to thin-layer chromatography and the immunoassays, but it is generally too slow to be of value in the screening of large numbers of samples. We propose to continue development of a high-speed capillary gas chromatography which would be suitable for the analysis of drugs of abuse in just a few seconds. The heart of the instrument would be a microbore column with an internal diameter of less than 50 micrometers. To take advantage of the ultimate performance of this column, a revolutionary inlet system and low-deadvolume detector will be developed. High-speed gas chromatography with a concentration-dependent detector has the added advantage of a greatly improved detection limit, so very small samples of body fluids would be adequate for analysis. A prototype instrument will be constructed and evaluated for the determination of amphetamines, barbiturates, opioids, and other drugs of abuse in body fluids.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Type
Small Business Innovation Research Grants (SBIR) - Phase II (R44)
Project #
5R44DA005524-03
Application #
2117783
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (SRCD (15))
Project Start
1992-09-15
Project End
1994-08-31
Budget Start
1993-09-01
Budget End
1994-08-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
1993
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Ionics International, Inc.
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Houston
State
TX
Country
United States
Zip Code
77042