Detection of methamphetamine and its main metabolite in fingermarks by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

A sensitive and efficient method applying liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for the analysis of methamphetamine and its main metabolite in fingermark deposits was described. Using this method, good linear relationship of methamphetamine was obtained in the range of 0.005μg to 0.5μg per cotton swab, the limit of detection was 1.5ng per cotton swab, the limit of quantitation was 5.0ng per cotton swab and the average values of recovery ratios were above 70.1%. Moreover, the influence factors for the detection of methamphetamine in fingermarks, such as kinds of substrates, development methods and extraction methods, were all discussed in details. The results showed that good recovery ratios could be obtained on painted wood and smooth substrates surfaces. Development methods in commercial powder could not influence the quality of examination of exogenous drug in latent fingermark. Furthermore, the results indicated that the method mentioned here could be applied in the analysis of forensic trace evidences and samples obtained in clinically addicted cases.