Forensics Project Part VIII: Drug Analysis

In class, we did an activity which simulated the testing for the drugs LSD and cocaine.  Of course, we could not use the real drugs in school so we used substances that would create the same results as the real drugs when exposed to the drug’s revealing reagent.  Six stations were set up around the room with unknown drugs to be identified as LSD or cocaine by the students who would rotate in groups around the room to each station.  At each station was a beaker filled with approximately 25ml of water and the unknown drug mixed thoroughly together.  The groups would then use a pipette to drop a couple of drops of the mixture into a provide plate and test the pH of the substance.  We would then rinse out the plates and add a couple more drops of the solution to the plate (in separate piles) and put a drop of each of the revealing reagents into the separate mixture piles to determine which drug the station held.

 

Background Research on the Drugs:

Cocaine

Chemical Name: benzoylmethylecgonine

Chemical Formula: C17H21NO4

pH: 8

Biochemical Tests: chromatographic techniques can easily distinguish and separately measure each of these substances

LSD

Chemical Name: Lysergic acid diethylamide

Chemical Formula: C20H25N3O

pH: 4

Biochemical Tests: comparing the hallucinogen LSD with lisuride, a structurally similar drug that also acts on serotonin or 5HT2A receptors but is not hallucinogenic