Development of novel quechers method for rapid detection of heroin in blood

Drug abuse cases have intruded the human society as a treacherous social menace globally. Among the wide variety of drugs involved for abuse, heroin is the most frequently encountered drug in drug abuse cases. Biological fluids, particularly blood, is preserved for analytical forensic examination of drugs in medicolegal cases of drug abuse. Detection of drugs of abuse is highly dependent on effective extraction process. Liquid- Liquid Extraction, Solid-Phase Extraction and Solid-Phase Microextraction are popular techniques used for extraction and isolation of drugs from blood. In recent years, use of QuEChERS method for extraction of pesticides provided efficient results. As no such methodology was found for extraction of drugs therefore, QuEChERS extraction procedure was modified for extraction of heroin from post-mortem blood samples. Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy analysis of sample extract delivered accurate results with an excellent recovery value of 83.90% for heroin at microscale levels. Moreover, this rapid analytical protocol for detection has direct applicability to the sample without any kind of pre- treatment and also reduces the quantity of solvent(s) required in the extraction process, proving it to be an environment- friendly method promoting green chemistry. This, in turn, makes this method equally advantageous for the forensic community.