First Chemistry Section

Drug abuse is a serious social problem worldwide. In Japan, the number of people arrested for stimulants is still at a high level, and those arrested for cannabis and narcotics are on the increase. Criminal cases related to sedatives/hypnotics are also increasing. This section is responsible for research on the analysis of controlled drugs and forensic toxicology and related caseworks.

Research and development of drug analysis

Analytical methods have been developed to identify various types of drugs, including those expected to be abused in the future, using recent analytical technologies. The drug characterizations of methamphetamine have been studied to identify the sources of supply and trafficking routes (methamphetamine impurity profiling).

Ecstasy tablet (left) and its infrared spectrum by a portable ATR-FTIR spectrometer (right).

Capillary electrophoresis system (left) and simultaneous chiral separation of amphetamine-type stimulants (right).

Development of novel sample-preparation methods for drug analysis. (Figure: Glass microchip for the sample preparation of methamphetamine in urine)

Study on drug metabolism

In order to demonstrate drug abuse, it is necessary to identify the drug and/or its metabolites in biological specimens obtained from the suspect. Highly-sensitive methods for drug identification in biological samples are developed and the metabolic fates of new drugs of abuse are investigated.

Liquid chromatograph/ion-trap mass spectrometer (left) and gas chromatograph/tandem mass spectrometer (right).
These instruments are utilized for sensitive and reliable analysis of illicit drugs, as well as ethical and OTC drugs.

Proposed metabolic pathway for 2C-B in rats.