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Updated: Aug 18, 2026

A Convenient Method for Extraction and Analysis with High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography of Catecholamine Neurotransmitters and Their Metabolites
Published on: March 1, 2018
An improved method for the rapid screening of illicit cocaine preparations using high performance liquid
Abstract:
Electrochemical detection in HPLC offers a very sensitive and selective alternative to UV detection for a number of classes of compounds. While there have been no reports of the use of electrochemical detection for the determination of cocaine in illicit preparations or biological fluids, it is now possible to use on-line, continuous post-column photolytic derivatization to generate electroactive species from cocaine which may then be detected downstream using a conventional electrochemical detector operated at oxidative working electrode potentials. In this manuscript the construction, optimization and characterization of system parameters are discussed, and the sensitive and highly selective nature of this novel detection method is demonstrated to be uniquely suited to the rapid identification and quantitation of cocaine in simulated illicit preparations.
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