ISSN: 0022-1198
CODEN: JFSCA
Published Online: 1 April 1980
Page Count: 10

A Multivariate Analysis of the Infrared Spectra of Drugs of Abuse
Posey, FT
Director, Tri-State Laboratories, Inc., Ohio

Peterson, PC
Professor, Youngstown State University, Ohio

Moss, WW
Associate curator, Academy of Natural Sciences, Pa.

(Received 11 May 1979; accepted 19 October 1979)

Abstract

The infrared (IR) spectra of 15 drugs of abuse were analyzed for similarity by using techniques of numerical taxonomy. The study included six barbiturates (amobarbital, barbital, butabarbital, pentobarbital, phenobarbital, and secobarbital), four amphetamine-related compounds (amphetamine, ephedrine, methamphetamine, and phentermine), and five other drugs (cocaine, heroin, phencyclidine, phendimetrazine, and diazepam). Three character sets were based on increasing numbers (10, 24, and 36) of IR peaks. The cluster analysis, principal component analysis, and nonmetric multidimensional scaling elements of the program system NT-SYS were used to structure taxonomic distances between drugs. Best results were obtained from the 36-peak data set; ordination diagrams proved to be more visually informative than phenograms. Preliminary results from our analysis of this set of drugs indicate that an expanded multivariate approach to drug classification may be useful.

Keywords:
toxicology, spectroscopic analysis, multivariate analysis, classification

Paper ID: JFS12127J
DOI: 10.1520/JFS12127J
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